The UC Santa Barbara Associated Students Environmental Affairs Board rallied at the Santa Barbara County Administration Building on April 8 to call Governor Gavin Newsom for help in ending California’s dependence on oil. They also demanded that he stop greenlighting new fossil fuel permits, and end California’s oil extraction.
Ruhika Nandy/ Daily Nexus
Santa Barbara County Action Network joined the A.S. Environmental Affairs Board in support of the lobbying effort coordinated national climate advocacy group Last Chance Alliance. Similar events were held in 11 cities throughout the state, including San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sacramento.
Students protested at the UCSB North Hall Outbound bus stop at 11 a.m. before making their way to Santa Barbara Downtown.
There were approximately 25 people in attendance and six speeches.
Kat Lane, a third year environmental studies major and cochair of EAB addressed the crowd.
We’re in a dire situation, and we need to take action to ensure that everyone can have an equitable future that serves them and that no one is continuing to struggle to survive underneath climate change or for any other reason,” Lane said. “We need an equitable, just future, and that includes having a livable planet.
Grant Huebner, first-year political science major and EAB community affairs chair, critiqued Newson’s office for using pro-environmentalist rhetoric while approving oil drilling permits at the rally.
Governor Newsom has a long track record of saying that he wants to be environmentally sustainable, that he wants to be an environmental leader and yet he’s issuing so many oil permits, Huebner said. He actually issued the same number of oil permits in his three first years as Jerry Brown.
Alyssa Jain, third-year environmental studies major and member of Sunrise Movement Santa Barbara (a youth-led coalition dedicated pursuing climate justice by political action), attended the rally.
Jain said that we are asking Newsom to ban all fossil fuel drilling in California. This is a major social justice issue because many of these wells are located in your communities, and your sensitive receptors. Hospitals, schools, churches, and many others are located in predominantly communities of color.
“And all the while while this drilling is going on it is jeopardizing the health and well-being of those people, those places and ecosystems, so we’re really calling on [Newsom]She continued, “Now to protect those people.”
Participants could also use chalk to write messages for the governor on the ground near the Santa Barbara County Courthouse. This idea was popular and many people who were watching the Last Chance Alliance rally took part in it.
We not only wrote our own messages but also people who walked past picked up chalk to write little notes in front of the courthouse. And that was honestly a really unique thing,” Huebner said. “You get your voice heard by taking 30 seconds of your day to write a quick message, and it’s the thing that everyone else sees as well. This brings in more people, and it’s fun and creative.
A version of this article appeared in the April 14 edition, Daily Nexus.