Vilas County Democrats and Northwoods Progressives held a Climate Emergency Day March in downtown Minocqua yesterday.
It’s July 22nd, or Climate Emergency Day 2024, and a group of around 15 protesters is chanting and pumping their signs in the air as they march through downtown Minocqua.
For the first time, March for Science and Beautiful Trouble’s Climate Clock deadline will tick down below five years.
The Climate Clock deadline, which is based on data from the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change, marks how long humanity has until the world’s carbon budget runs out, given the amount of carbon currently emitted.
Without that carbon budget, the likelihood of experiencing devastating climate change is very high.
This protest was organized by the Vilas County Democrats and Northwoods Progressives, who submitted an open letter to town and county boards of Vilas and Oneida Counties.
Andi Rich, candidate for State Senate in District 12, spoke about the need for science-led governmental action.
Northwoods Progressives are advocating for five local changes. First, they want each new vehicle purchase to be an electric or plug-in hybrid vehicle. Next, they want local governments to reduce nighttime lighting, like “lights in unoccupied buildings or unnecessary street lights."
They also want the support and promotion of non-motorized sports, as well as optimized traffic light synchronization to reduce the time cars spend idling. Finally, they asked local governments to “resist the allure of short-term extractive businesses, such as sulfide ore mining.”
Joe Sanfilippo from Arbor Vitae marched in the protest.
“If you want to quit using so much fossil fuel, quit buying it. Refuse to accept food that's in plastic containers, or refuse to use a plastic water bottle. It has to start with us,” he said.
The group also asked local governments to create a task force to “evaluate and plan for the likely effects of climate change."
Reactions to Biden dropping out of presidential race:
At the Climate Emergency Day March in Minocqua on Monday, members of Northwoods Progressives and Vilas County Democrats reacted to news that President Biden would not continue his re-election campaign and that his Vice President Kamala Harris would become the presumptive Democratic nominee.
Shawn McKenney said that he thought it was a testament to Biden’s character that he would step aside in order to do what was best for the country.
He said he’s excited about a Harris campaign.
“Now you know, the Republicans chant, ‘Biden's too old.’ There's only one old person running now. It's not Kamala. So I'm very excited. Their whole messaging strategy of the Republican Party just got thrown out the door,” he said.
Jane Nicholson said that she felt Biden was largely pushed out.
“I feel that those driving this ‘pass-the-torch’ thing are the moneyed influencers who were not thinking about strategy whatsoever. They came off looking really ridiculously disorganized and with little true discernment in terms of politics,” she said.
She said she’s in full support of Harris.
Multiple people noted that they were excited to see a woman, particularly a woman of color, on the presidential ballot.
