A youth-led climate activism organization led a rally on Falmouth Main Street this Earth Day.
Fridays For Future Cape Cod is the local chapter of an national organization inspired by the work of the young Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg.
Sandwich resident Madison Sheppard of Fridays For Future was the lead organizer of the protest.
Leading protesters in chants like, “No ICE! No KKK! No fascist USA!” Sheppard emphasized the connections between climate change and other social and economic issues.
“These multi-million-dollar corporations are not only keeping the poor poor and making us rely on these fossil fuels, but they're also blocking off our access to renewable energy and directly lying to the public about the effectiveness of renewable energy,” she said. “There's a lot of interconnected issues. You cannot have climate justice without human rights.”
Meteorologist Chris Gloninger spoke at the protest. He used to be chief meteorologist at a radio station in Iowa, but when he started covering climate change there, he got a lot of pushback, and even a death threat. He left the station, but he didn’t stop talking about climate change.
Gloninger said 45 percent of Americans think they’re going to be affected by climate change. But Gloninger argued that virtually all Americans are already being affected by climate change.
“We're all paying more for home insurance, we're paying more at the grocery store, we have a volatile energy source—which are fossil fuels—and people aren't making that connection,” he said. “People aren't scared enough.”
Falmouth resident Laura Bergeron was one of the protesters. She and several other women held a very long sign bearing a quote from scientist Neil deGrasse Tyson: “Science is truth whether or not you believe it.”
“I think [it’s] really a powerful statement,” Bergeron said. “I am part of a group called the Resister Sisters, and we use our messaging to spread truth and facts and try to find some common ground with people who believe differently.”
The Resister Sisters have met weekly since the second election of President Donald Trump, writing letters to Supreme Court justices, sending postcards to voters and participating in demonstrations like this one.
Former Falmouth High School Spanish teacher Bill Mock held a much smaller sign than the Resister Sisters, but it conveyed a similarly climate-oriented message: “Earth first.”
“America first? No,” he explained. “First Earth.”
Mock said that while the fight for climate justice is an international effort, it starts with local action.
Also at the protest were state representative candidate Jack Richardson, Falmouth social media influencer and activist Amanda McGonigle and members of the local chapter of Indivisible, a nationwide activist group.
