The Society of Fearless Grandmothers Santa Barbara, in cooperation with 350Santa Barbara, Sunrise Movement, Women’s March-Santa Barbara, Extinction Rebellion-SB and the Greta Thunberg Fridays for Future international organization, will sponsor its fourth monthly Shoe Strike for Climate Justice, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 31.
The event will be held at the beach near Stearns Wharf. Previous Shoe Strikes have focused on opposition to new fossil fuel drilling permits, the tragedy of recent wildfires and sea level rise.
“We continue our opposition to new drilling permits and focus this month on calling out big banks that fund the fossil fuel industry,” the Society of Fearless Grandmothers said. “We are already seeing devastating impacts of climate change: droughts, fires, floods, extreme weather events and famine; and we haven’t yet reached 1.5 degrees of warming.
“Our grandchildren face a frightening future if our society does not take immediate dramatic action to reduce atmospheric carbon in less than 10 years. In the past four years, the U.S. has rolled back environmental regulations and withdrawn from the Paris Agreement of 2016 — going in exactly the opposite direction we need to be headed.
“Across the nation, unprecedented fires, record breaking heat, historic storms and widespread drought have caused billions of dollars in economic damage, environmental devastation and untold human suffering, the air poisoned with wildfire smoke and fossil fuel pollution has had disastrous health consequences for millions of people.
“Plans for adaptation for sea level rise will cost billions of dollars.”
To those who say “We can’t afford a Green New Deal” the Society of Fearless Grandmothers says: “We can’t afford the consequences of delaying dramatic action to address climate change.”