Minnesota: 15,000 gather on Earth Day to fight Trump’s anti-climate agenda

St. Paul, MN – On Saturday, April 19, chants from the Minnesota State Capitol grounds were heard throughout downtown Saint Paul as 10,000-plus protesters marched through the streets to meet a crowd of 5000 on the capitol lawn for a People’s Earth Day.

“Like never before, we can see how the destruction of our environment goes hand in hand with resource extraction for power and profit,” Climate Justice Committee member Zhu Gong declared to the crowd of 15,000. “We must stand up and demand that all complacency towards Trump and Musk’s destructive agenda is ended forever. We have seen that when communities stand up and fight, we win!”

Seeking to elevate and broaden the fight for the planet, the group identified Earth Day as an important holiday to put forward as a day of fighting for liberation. A People’s Earth Day, to them, is not just a celebration, but an assertion of the necessity for the people of the world to reclaim their planet from the corporations and governments that seek to destroy it.

This event was organized by an array of local organizations under the collective name of The People’s Earth Day Coalition. Organizing partners included the Climate Justice Committee, Families Against Military Madness, Three Waters Pipeline Resistance, MN 50501, Indivisible Twin Cities, MN Women’s March and Third Act. After the massive turnout of the Hands off rallies on April 5, organizers were excited to follow up on the growing opposition to Trump’s agenda.

“I celebrated the very first Earth Day 55 years ago with great joy, hope and determination,” said Amy Blumenshine of Third Act Minnesota. “Today, under Trump, we are abandoning all our great progress, so I am working to stop the federal retreat from climate and environmental protection in every way possible.”

And it wasn’t just environmental groups that supported these demands. Twin Cities Coalition for Justice, Red Nation, MN Immigrant Rights Action Committee, the MN Anti-War Committee, and the Wrongfully Incarcerated and Over-Sentenced Families Council were just a few of the non-climate groups that showed up to speak in support of the people’s movement for the climate.

“It’s no coincidence that the same people and institutions that are profiting from the destruction of our planetary future are also the ones fomenting war, attacking immigrants, rolling back women’s and LGBTQ rights, and more,” said Charlie Berg of the Climate Justice Committee. “‘One struggle, one fight’ is not just a slogan or a metaphor, it’s an accurate description.”

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