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Davis joins in Global Climate Strike

Davis Climate Strike march(From press release) This past Friday, September 15, Davis joined groups across the world in the Global Climate Strike. After grabbing signs and getting ready, the defiant group of all ages slowly marched down 14th Street, leading chants to alert the Davis public of the climate emergency. At Central Park, some of the youth activists gave speeches, and held a die-in, where the audience helped embody the severity of our future, and the hopes they have for a better one.

Davis Climate Strike muralThe strikers then painted a mural on the sidewalk, to engrave the message “END FOSSIL FUELS” into the public eye. Nico Novick, in their speech today, said, “…Climate doomism, or the belief that everything is fundamentally hopeless, wastes time, it is giving up without trying, and we must try. We must have hope!”

More information at https://sites.google.com/view/fridaysforfuturedavis/home?authuser=0

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Comments

29 responses to “Davis joins in Global Climate Strike”

  1. Nancy Price

    Hope manifest in action! Thank you for the Friday March. Onward, Nancy Price

    Reply
  2. Ron O

    The strikers then painted a mural on the sidewalk, to engrave the message “END FOSSIL FUELS” into the public eye.
    Not to be cynical (too late for that), but this group probably should have advocated for the end of “sidewalks” – as the creation and installation of concrete creates a lot of greenhouse gasses.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_concrete#:~:text=The%20environmental%20impact%20of%20concrete,Many%20depend%20on%20circumstances.

    Reply
  3. Keith

    Was the sidewalk painted with actual paint. or chalked?
    Was permission for this given by the city with all the required permits?

    Reply
  4. Roberta L. Millstein

    Ok, Boomers.

    Reply
  5. Keith

    Seriously, If permits aren’t required can anyone paint any message they want on Davis public sidewalks?

    Reply
  6. Roberta L. Millstein

    Ok, Boomer.

    Reply
  7. Keith

    I don’t know if this group got the necessary permits or not, but if they didn’t would you be okay with some group painting a sign about something that didn’t align with your views on public sidewalks?

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  8. Keith

    If someone complained about a parent’s rights group that painted a sign on a Davis public sidewalk that read “Parents Have Rights Too” would your reply be “Okay Boomers” or would you want an explanation?

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  9. Colin walsh

    You’re right Keith. They should all be arrested. Frankly it would be the best thing to amplify their message except for maybe some pepper spray.

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  10. Keith

    “You’re right Keith. They should all be arrested. Frankly it would be the best thing to amplify their message except for maybe some pepper spray.”
    Nowhere did I say that or advocate for that.
    But an honest question for you Colin, if a painted message on a public venue happened to be something that you didn’t happen to agree with would you be okay with it?
    Would your response here be the same?

    Reply
  11. Ron O

    I suspect that the creation and distribution of both paint and chalk creates greenhouse gasses (and other environmental damage). Chalk itself is mined.
    Haven’t looked into pepper spray – hopefully it’s at least organic.
    But seriously, the link I provided above (regarding concrete) shows that it’s responsible for 4-8% of greenhouse gasses. I don’t know if that includes the installation and ultimately the disposal thereof.
    Point being that it’s not just driving – there’s many sources of greenhouse gasses in modern society. (For that matter, in the natural world as well.)

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  12. Alan C. Miller

    RM, as for “OK Boomers” snark, are you denying that concrete creates massive air pollutants?
    It isn’t so much that specific thing (concrete) as the concept that is oft missed: you have to look at the entire system when making decision on the environment. This is a concept that I honed in years of involvement at the Whole Earth festival. Often ‘solutions’ that seem so on the surface are actually not, oft causing their own damage.
    This is a problem with the simple ‘No Fossil Fuels’ slogan for example. It’s not that simple. Examples: The carbon footprint of an electric car is based on the totality of grid sources. And often there is large environmental damage from clean energy, such as desert scraping from installation of solar farms (the desert cannot recover the way a wetter climate can), or whale disruption from the noises emitted from sea wind turbines.
    And yes, concrete production is extremely polluting.
    And as for climate change, the inputs are global and massive, and only the totality matters, so best to affect change where a difference can be made, not via local tokens.
    This is why I am and always have been an avid environmentalist, but I will not engage in climate politics.

    Reply
  13. South of Davis

    Keith asks”

    if a painted message on a public venue happened to be
    something that you didn’t happen to agree with would
    you be okay with it?
    I think Keith knows the answer since anyone that tried to paint “More Oil Drilling in CA” in a Davis city park would be arrested and forced to pay for the cleanup. Only left of center messages (and sidewalk paint colors) are allowed in Davis public spaces (and streets).

    Reply
  14. Roberta L. Millstein

    Alan asks, “RM, as for “OK Boomers” snark, are you denying that concrete creates massive air pollutants?”
    No. I am questioning the focus on concrete and sidewalk painting given the larger issues at stake and our young people who are trying desperately to get action to mitigate the harms that will affect them the most. I am registering my refusal to engage in discussions that are not worth engaging in in this context.

    Reply
  15. Alan C. Miller

    RM, I believe the point is the effectiveness of the message, as opposed to focusing on actual local fights that could be one. Such as the one we just won regarding the groundwater drilling moratorium. 🙂
    We are all very aware that transportation is the largest cause of pollution. It will be decades before the electric grid is clean – and still that won’t offset what developing countries are pouring into the atmosphere, and electric cars don’t help with land use (sprawl would continue). The current paradigm is to try to get people to use ‘transit’ (buses) when transit ridership is tanking with remote work and increased auto ownership. And even if bus ridership went up 50% instead of down 50%, it wouldn’t make a dent in overall modal share. And requiring a ‘bus stop’ near a new development so the developers get a subsidy is no solution whatsoever.
    What would make a difference is if the Capitol Corridor were electrified and expanded to hourly service from Roseville to San Jose from 5am to 11pm every day and speeds increased to 110mph. That would actually entice large numbers of people not to drive. Instead, even though 20 Davis residents spoke against widening I-80 at a City Council meeting, only me and Alan Hirsch were speaking against the project at last Monday’s Yolo Transit meeting. But also there was Barry Broome, the head of the Davis Chamber of Commerce, and two former mayors, among others, all speaking in favor of the freeway widening. 😦
    What if, instead of trying to change the world (which we have no power to do) to ‘eliminate’ fossil fuels, all those young people came to the City Council meeting and the Yolo Transit meeting and marched to divert billions in highway funds to expand and speed up the Capitol Corridor? That would probably make the largest difference of any project in VMT and carbon emissions, and could make living car free at working age in Davis possible. And local bus routes could make hourly pulses from the train depot, making buses useful and used.
    AND, unlike turning the pollution-increasing ocean-liners of China or India, there is a chance those students could make a difference if they focused their energy on something they could have an effect on.

    Reply
  16. Roberta L. Millstein

    Alan, you raise a number of very important issues and questions. I would “OK Boomer” none of them. This is the sort of discussion that is relevant to the issues at hand, not discussions about sidewalks and chalking, which, although they may have their place, are distractions here.

    Reply
  17. Roberta L. Millstein

    P.S. Which former mayors spoke in favor of freeway widening???

    Reply
  18. Keith

    “I think Keith knows the answer since anyone that tried to paint “More Oil Drilling in CA” in a Davis city park would be arrested and forced to pay for the cleanup. Only left of center messages (and sidewalk paint colors) are allowed in Davis public spaces (and streets).”
    Yes SOD, can you imagine the reaction to a group that was advocating for U.S. energy independence painting a “Drill, Baby, Drill” sign on a Davis downtown park sidewalk?

    Reply
  19. Alan C. Miller

    RM say: “P.S. Which former mayors spoke in favor of freeway widening???”
    That would be Ken Wagstaff and Brett Lee. Which amazes me because I’ve worked with both of them on rail issues over the years. I realize many people don’t get the concept that you widen a freeway in many situations, that it is unlikely to actually make difference except increase auto use (even though a recent UCD study on this very corridor predicts this very outcome). But I know these two are wise to transportation concepts.

    Reply
  20. Alan C. Miller

    RM, I know Keith and SOD annoy you, but their point with the snarky comments is one I agree with – besides the messages I already outlined, there is also the issue of free speech. Whatever any one person or the majority culture of Davis is, the government should not be supporting or suppressing the ability of anyone to be heard. Because back in the day, it was the left-leaning who were suppressed (and I’m sure still are in ‘flyover’ country, which in reality pretty much starts north of Woodland, sans some of Chico). The majority anywhere should not suppress the ability of the minority to be heard, that is what makes our country gr—, well, half-decent anyway.

    Reply
  21. Roberta L. Millstein

    😧🤯

    Reply
  22. Roberta L. Millstein

    To be clear, my emojis were in response to Ken Wagstaff and Brett Lee advocating for widening I-80. I just can’t even…

    Reply
  23. South of Davis

    Alan wrote:

    RM, I know Keith and SOD annoy you
    Few people like to hear things they consider “problematic” (like finding out that almost everyone drove cars to a “climate protest” and after they painted something on the concrete the city will pay a guy in a diesel powered truck to drive over and run a gas powered power washer with no pollution control devices on the engine for an hour to clean the concrete).
    Few people like to hear that Davis is just as bad as the rednecks in Houston in that would allow oil rig workers to paint “Drill Baby Drill” in a park but arrest left leaning “climate protestors” and force them to pay for the cleanup. Only right of center messages (and sidewalk paint colors) are allowed in Houston public spaces (and streets where MAGA crosswalks are OK but rainbow sidewalks are banned).
    P.S. In addition to being “Pro Choice on Everything” like Alan it really bothers me when the government does not “treat everyone equally” (I would be arrested if dumped trash next to the railroad tracks but the Davis does not have a problem if the “homeless” dump tons of trash next to the railroad tracks)…

    Reply
  24. Ron O

    “RM, I know Keith and SOD annoy you, but their point with the snarky comments is one I agree with – besides the messages I already outlined, there is also the issue of free speech.”
    For what it’s worth, my comment was only semi-snarky.
    In general, it seems that the climate change protestors don’t look at the “big picture”, as you noted. I suspect (but don’t know for sure) that there’s a certain amount of “brainwashing” that’s occurred for some young people in particular, regarding the sole focus on climate change (as the “only” environmental issue).
    This is also why they fail to look at the “big picture”. (See Michael Moore’s “Planet of the Humans” for a somewhat more-rounded view.)
    If the climate change protestors actually wanted to make a “local” difference, they’d be protesting the sprawling development applications on farmland, outside of city limits (as well as the freeway expansion). They’d be taking on local governments throughout the region (and the state itself), regarding the continued push to “grow”.
    Starting with DISC. Where were they, then? Where was “Cool Davis”? Where are they regarding Covell Village, Part II?
    Ultimately, all environmental problems come back to population and technology which has allowed the population to grow to the size it is, with all of the resulting impacts. And yet, what do some people then advocate? Why, more technology, of course!
    Also, look at the sign that one protestor holds, in the photo above. What do “Indigenous Hawaiins” have to do with climate change – other than contributing to it like everyone else? Do their climate emissions not stink?
    This is another major complaint I have with almost every environmental organization these days. The sole focus on climate change (while ignoring every other environmental problem), combined with their increasing push for “social justice” – which not only is a separate issue, it is sometimes a CONFLICTING issue.
    Concerns regarding “social justice” has also caused environmental organizations to avoid talking about population. I believe there was a major rift regarding this decades ago, in the Sierra Club. And the social justice types “won” – not just with the Sierra Club, but almost ALL environmental organizations.
    You can even see this even with some “land trust” type environmental organizations, in that some of them have become YIMBYs. (There is a rift among YIMBYs regarding the new city that the technology giants want to build in Solano county. The “land trust” YIMBYs apparently don’t support it.
    Now, I would have thought that the land trust organizations would never fall for the b.s., but apparently I was wrong. Thought at least they’re not supporting the tech giant’s planned city, near Travis Air Force base. (Unlike “other” YIMBY organizations, which are apparently in full support.) In fact, one of the people proposing that city is literally a YIMBY.
    I can find articles to support what I’m claiming, above.

    Reply
  25. Colin Walsh

    I am pro free speech.
    And let’s never forget that the idea that “you can’t yell fire in a crowded theater” came from an Oliver Wendell Holmes statement in support of a Supreme Court Decision to jail people advocating for draft resistance during World War 1.

    Reply
  26. Ron O

    I’ll go ahead and “complain” about the other sign they’re holding, as well:
    “Remember Paradise”
    Really? You won’t “need” to remember it, because they’re rebuilding it in the exact same place it was, before. And it will burn down again, climate change or not.
    But at least they’re not holding up a sign stating “(fill-in-the-blank) Strong”.

    Reply
  27. Alan C. Miller

    RM say: “To be clear, my emojis were in response to Ken Wagstaff and Brett Lee advocating for widening I-80. I just can’t even…”
    Yeah, I thought they were there to speak AGAINST the widening. Same emojis from me.

    Reply
  28. South of Davis

    Colin wrote:

    And let’s never forget that the idea that
    “you can’t yell fire in a crowded theater”
    Is pointing out that most (but not all) local “environmentalists” don’t seem to care about all the trash (and fecal matter) the homeless leave around town and pointing out that I have heard more about the fires in Hawaii than about the MANY fires the homeless have started here in Davis the same as “yelling fire in a crowded theater”?

    Reply
  29. Keith

    “yelling fire in a crowded theater”
    Would AOC proclaiming that the world would end in 12 years if we don’t address climate change be considered “yelling fire in a crowded theater”?
    And she said that 4 years ago so we don’t have long.

    Reply

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