Hundreds of environmentalists gathered in New York City’s Stuyvesant Square Park and a nearby Quaker meeting house on Sunday to rally in support of solar power and other forms of renewable energy. The event was part of a national “day of action” billed Sun Day, founded by veteran environmental activist Bill McKibben and first Earth Day coordinator Denis Hayes.
“It’s so sad to watch the sun going to waste,” McKibben said at a press conference, standing beside environmentalists and their children. “Every single day, energy from heaven going to waste while we drill down to hell for another dose of the stuff that is wrecking this planet.”
McKibben was joined at the press conference by other activists, as well as officials from New York and his home state of Vermont.
“We have the ability here to protect our children, to protect our future,” said New York’s lieutenant governor, Antonio Delgado.
The event in the park followed an all-afternoon celebration of clean power, with displays of solar panels, child-friendly lessons on renewable technology, and panel discussions. One popular panel featured McKibben and New York City’s comptroller, Brad Lander.
In other parts of the country, activists held more than 500 other actions meant to highlight the creative ways Americans are ditching fossil-based energy. In Virginia, volunteers climbed rooftops to install solar panels on affordable homes built by Habitat for Humanity. In North Carolina, families gathered at a farm powered by solar panels. And in Michigan, organizers held a car show to show off electric vehicles; families also held a beach clean up nearby.
Renewable energy sources have seen unprecedented growth in recent years. Last year, they accounted for over 90% of total energy expansion globally, one analysis found. And the US generated less than half of its energy from fossil fuels for the first time this past March.
Yet the day of action came amid unprecedented attacks on climate protections and the renewable energy transition by the Trump administration. Since January, his administration has rolled back grants for solar, kicked off an all-of-government approach to shut down wind, halted and delayed wind projects, and launched more than 150 other anti-environmental and anti-renewable energy actions. The plans are threatening not only the climate but also Americans’ pocketbooks, said Vermont senator Peter Welch.
“Clean energy is really good for affordability. It lowers the utility bills people are struggling to pay and creates really good jobs,” Welch said in an interview. “What Trump is doing is wrecking that economic potential. Customers are going to get hammered.”
Despite these attacks, the event had an overall air of optimism. McKibben said though the US is backsliding on climate progress, much of the rest of the world is continuing to build out renewable power.
“The pattern around the world is unmistakable,” he said in an interview. “The reason that it’s happening is partly because of the climate crisis but also largely because this is the cheapest form of energy, and it’s getting cheaper every year.”
The Sun Day action came ahead of Climate Week in New York City, an annual event that convenes government officials, corporate actors and activists for a vast array of climate-focused events. It also came one day after the “Make Billionaires Pay” march, for which 25,000 people took to the streets in New York City.
“Billionaires caused the climate chaos, spearheaded the rise of authoritarianism and they continue to profit from our suffering. But they forgot one thing: there are more of us than there are of them,” said Renata Pumarol, an organizer with the environmental justice non-profit Climate Defenders, in a statement about the Saturday protest.
Sun Day participants did not shy away from naming the fossil fuel companies who have been the primary cause of global warming. But it focused largely on solutions aimed at taking on the climate crisis instead of the actors behind it.
McKibben, for instance, praised Utah’s move three months ago to legalize the installation of solar panels on balconies – something that is illegal in all other US states. And New York assemblymember Emily Gallagher previewed a state bill she will introduce next week aimed at helping renters access solar panels.
At the press conference, McKibben noted that though the forecast for Sunday showed cloudy skies, the day was bright and warm.
“The collective power of all of us is enough to bring out the sun,” he said.