Halloween-themed Rally to Address Scary Climate Change | Homes & Lifestyle

Students from UCSB Environmental Affairs Board and Sunrise Movement Santa Barbara are co-sponsoring a Halloween-themed Climate Rally and March, 4:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 22, along with the Society of Fearless Grandmothers-SB, Santa Barbara Community Action Network (SBCAN), 350 SB, and Women’s March SB.

The rally will start at the County Administration Building, 105 E. Anapamu St., followed by a march on State Street to De La Guerra Plaza.

This event is in solidarity with other climate actions planned that day around the globe. Internationally, Fridays for Future has organized strikes in dozens of countries. In California, CA Youth vs. Big Oil and Last Chance Alliance are organizing Stolen Lives/Stolen Futures in Sacramento with a march from CALSTRS offices to the Capitol.

Demands posed to Gov. Gavin Newsom and elected officials are: “No New Oil and Gas Permits!” “Divest CALSTRS!” “No funds for politicians from fossil fuel sources!” and “No Climate, No Deal!”

As firefighters battle the Alisal Fire north of Santa Barbara, and a ruptured offshore oil pipeline in Orange County has fouled beaches to the south, Santa Barbara youth are saying, “We want to be scared on Halloween, not scared for our futures!”

At the last climate march on Sept. 24 more than 150 youth and elders marched in opposition to the Exxon trucking proposal prior to the County Planning Commission hearing as smoke from the Windy Fire filled the Santa Barbara skies.

Newsom is scheduled to speak about California’s climate leadership at the COP26 climate convention in Glasgow, Scotland, on Nov. 11. In contrast to his expected comments there, the governor’s climate record at home is a concern:

Since January 2020, as unprecedented wildfires have destroyed lives and property across California, he has approved more than 2,200 permits for new oil wells, many without sufficient distance from residences and schools, in areas where vulnerable communities are more highly impacted by poor air quality caused by the extraction and processing.

Oil from these wells will put more greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere at a time when scientists are telling us to drastically reduce these emissions to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. To meet California’s climate goals, no new permits can be issued.

In response to the recently released Sixth Report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world’s leading authority on climate science, UN secretary general António Guterres warned that the report is “a code red for humanity.”