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On Friday, March 25, 2022, Youth vs. Apocalypse hosted a Global Day of Action in San Francisco’s Embarcadero Plaza. Note from Editor Nube Brown: “I had the pleasure of attending this powerful youth organized event and was immediately inspired and moved. Kudos to the parents and teachers there to support – and for bringing whole classrooms, elementary through highschool! What I found most beautiful was the astute assessment and connection to all of the issues concerning climate justice. They reminded us that this is not just an environmental issue, but an issue of human rights and the protection and treatment of all sentient beings, of all life, and that Climate Justice is deeply connected to the destructive nature of capitalism and imperialism, and how those structures exist only by placing profits over people and planet, forcing young people farther away from the possibility of having their dreams realized and their futures secure. I heard them loud and clear: When our children are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!” – Photos: Nube Brown
Join the action for environmental and climate justice!
by Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice and Barry Hermanson
When: Friday, April 22, 2022, 10 a.m.
Where: Meet at Civic Center BART, San Francisco
First held on April 22, 1970, Earth Day is now observed annually by “1 billion people in more than 193 countries.” Drought, famine, mega storms, deadly heat waves, melting glaciers and rising sea levels are constantly in the news. The events on Earth Day are an urgent call to action to protect the environment.
And, while it’s lovely that Earth Day is a universal day that everyone gathers around with the intention of combating climate change, we need to make sure that we are inclusive in our actions.
Historically, Earth Day has been a day in San Francisco where places like Golden Gate Park and Crissy Fields are cleansed and cared for while low income communities of color, like Bayview Hunters Point and Treasure Island, have been neglected by city, state and federal elected officials and agencies.
With full consciousness, the city is letting poor Black and Brown people die, allowing multiple generations to live on radioactive land and breathe dirty air.
With full consciousness, the city is letting poor Black and Brown people die, allowing multiple generations to live on radioactive land and breathe dirty air. Our civic officials are complicit, silent and indifferent about this because those most impacted are Black, Brown and poor. We need to reframe how we celebrate this day with our actions.
This Earth Day, we call on those in the climate justice movement to fight with us to demand the cleanup of radioactive and toxic waste from our city. We call on those that recognize that at the root of the issues we face as low-income, Black, Brown, Indigenous and LGBTQ-plus people is a system profiting off of our struggles.
We call on San Francisco to acknowledge our plight with climate injustice through actions. This Earth Day, join us at 10 a.m. at the Civic Center BART Station to demand environmental and climate justice.
No matter where you live, take action to protect the environment. Calling all environmental justice, climate justice, social justice allies and friends! Please Join Youth vs. Apocalypse, Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice, Bayview Hunters Point Mothers and Fathers Committee and the Marie Harrison Community Foundation in organizing a big and powerful People’s Earth Day 2022.
We call on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, Mayor Breed, the USEPA, State Department of Toxic Substances Control, the State Water Quality Control Board and all elected officials for the:
- Retesting with independent community oversight of Hunters Point Naval Shipyard Superfund site and adjacent areas.
- Full and comprehensive cleanup of all contamination due to community vulnerability and due to the threat posed by rising sea levels and groundwater rise.
- Full Reparations, including financial compensation and lifetime health services for all residents, ex-residents and workers exposed and impacted by shipyard contamination.
If your organization is interested in co-sponsoring and participating in the People’s Earth Day Action for Environmental and Climate Justice, please contact ashley@greenaction.org and hannah.estrada@youthvsapocalypse.org.
Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice is an organization based in Bayview Hunters Point. Contact them by email at greenaction@greenaction.org.
Barry Hermanson is a Green Party of California Coordinating Committee member and a former small business owner. Contact him at Barry@Hermansons.com or 415-255-9494 or write to him via the Bay View.
