Earth Day at 55: How Do We Mobilize Like That Again? -- SRTI Second Sunday Salon
Start: 2025-04-13 16:00:00 UTC Pacific Daylight Time (US & Canada) (GMT-07:00)
End: 2025-04-13 18:00:00 UTC Pacific Daylight Time (US & Canada) (GMT-07:00)
A link to attend this virtual event will be emailed upon RSVP
Join us to discuss how we can organize to mobilize during this unprecedented moment in time. With about 2100 protest actions in February alone, activism is exploding all across the US. Individual numbers at events may be lower than in 2017 but they are growing fast, and boycotts and union actions particularly are expanding rapidly.
This salon is open to everyone. We want to hear from you!
Salons are about creating a space for thoughtful conversation and camaraderie. We typically gather in the afternoon/early evening of the second Sunday of each month.
Bring Your Own Brain
(adult beverages optional)
Background for April Salon Conversation
The first Earth Day was April 22, 1970; it was the largest environmental mobilization the world had ever seen. On that day 20M Americans (10% of the US population) came out for the planet. How can Earth Day or any another event mobilize 10% of the population again?
In this salon we will revisit Earth Day and other historic global calls to action in the context of the rise of oligarchies and fascist politics. In 2025, many of the achievements of the activism of previous decades are suddenly under threat again, but we are seeing other mass mobilizations emerging.
The first Earth Day took place against a back drop of rivers so polluted they burst into flames, cities shrouded in smog from belching smokestacks and leaded fuel in cars, and workers exposed to toxins from mercury to uranium with no protections or health care. Four months after the first Earth Day, then-President Richard Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency by Executive Order.
Now, Executive Orders are used to tear down instead of protect the very fabric of US society. The 31 rule rollback by Trump’s EPA in March are indeed a “dagger straight into the heart of the climate” and the “greatest day of deregulation our nation has seen.” It is also projected to cause 200,000 deaths in the near future.
How do we use this moment to galvanize people everywhere and bring 10% of the population into the street, engaging in civil disobedience, non-compliance and direct action for a livable future?
