An estimated 300 community members rallied from Library Mall to the capitol for environmental protections Sunday.
The League of Women Voters of Wisconsin partnered with over 30 organizations, including 350 Wisconsin, Elevate and the Sierra Club to host Wisconsin’s first state-wide climate march since Trump’s reelection. The organizations called for environmental justice and the right to science and academic freedom.
“We cannot fight this global movement if we remain siloed in our work and struggles,” activist Marc Rosenthal, a member of the US El Salvador Sister City Network, said. “The struggles for indigenous sovereignty here in the United States, the fight for Palestinian Liberation, the struggle for climate justice, are [all] intricately linked at their very roots.”
Creative acts and speeches took place at Library Mall before climate activists, students and volunteers mobilized to demand action from the Trump administration, bringing Climate Week NYC to an end.
Prior to the events of climate week, Trump continues to disregard climate change, most recently proposing to cancel the government’s 16-year-old finding that carbon dioxide emissions endanger public health, as well as cutting funding to the U.S Global Change Research Program.
Four of the 15 indigenous youth filing a lawsuit against the Wisconsin Public Service Commission (WPSC) kicked off the event with an Anishinaabe Water Ceremony.
The lawsuit, backed by environmental law nonprofit Midwest Environmental Advocates, alleges WPSC, who controls the approval and construction of power plants throughout the entire state of Wisconsin, have knowingly perpetuated the harmful construction of fossil fuel powered generators.
During the ceremony, one of the children walked around sageing people while softly praying, ending by inviting protesters to partake in the ceremony by drinking the water, as water is a symbol of life and healing source in the Ojibwe creation story.
The 350 Art Collective followed the plaintiffs with a performance in which 10ft. paper-mache statues of Mother Earth and Lady Liberty debated democracy’s role in “healing this wounded world.”
The performance was based on the idea that “democracy is essential to the web of life,” collective member Dianne Brakarsh said.
“If people give up on democracy, only the powerful can speak,” Brakarsh said. “When greed shouts, the quiet wisdom of nature goes silenced.”
350 Art Collective’s name references the maximum amount of CO2 allowed in the atmosphere for it to be liveable, 350 parts per million (ppm). According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the concentration was 420 ppm as of May 2023.
Over the 40 minute walk from Library Mall to the capitol led by the Forward! Marching Band, “Madison’s community activist street band,” plaintiffs and protesters led the crowd through several chants, calling for “environmental justice now!”
Sen. Chris Larson, D-Milwaukee, began the rally at the capitol discussing how the U.S. government enables the climate crisis by environmental protection rollbacks.
“Let’s be absolutely clear about how we got into this mess,” Larson said. “We got here after decades of fossil fuel emissions changing the composition of our atmosphere and [raising] the global temperature.”
Hannah Stahmann, a member of 350 Art Collective and University of Wisconsin-Madison alum, told The Daily Cardinal collaboration like the climate march builds a united front.
“It gives you hope [when you] remember that there are people who feel the same way as you about what’s going on in the world right now,” Stahmann told the Cardinal.
Attorney General Josh Kaul said a stable democracy is essential to combatting climate change.
“Our democracy and the fight against climate change [are] linked issues,” Kaul said. “When we lose our democracy, [that’s] when the interests of polluters and the fossil fuel industry get served and the interest of the people get left behind.”
Rep. Francesca Hong, D-Madison and governor candidate, encouraged Wisconsinites to remain hopeful and unified in an era of growing political anxiety.
“Our solidarity is stronger than their division,” Hong said.“Our resistance, stronger than their repression. Our movement [is] one of care, compassion [and] moral courage.”
