Protect Our Planet: Climate Action and Environmental Justice | April 14, 2026
Protect Our Planet for April 14, 2026: Wildfire science cuts, climate denial, and fossil fuel harms show why people-powered action matters now.
The climate crisis is not waiting, and neither are the people making it worse. This week, the Forest Service moved to close 57 of its 77 research facilities, undercutting critical science on wildfire risk, drought, pests, and climate pressure just as communities need better warning systems and better planning. At the same time, EPA chief Lee Zeldin stood before a climate-denying group and mocked the very warnings his agency is supposed to take seriously. When the people charged with protecting our air, water, and public health start echoing denial, ordinary families pay the price.
And the price is already here. Christiana Figueres is warning that the world is being held hostage by fossil fuels, and that climate collapse is not only an environmental emergency but a health emergency. Rising seas are contaminating drinking water, food systems are under pressure, and families are being forced from their homes. Even something as familiar as a hockey rink is being transformed by a warming planet, with some communities turning to plastic ice because winter itself is becoming less reliable. This is not abstract. It is reshaping daily life in real time. The future is still being written, but only if we organize like it matters now. We are a movement built not by billionaires or kings, but by everyday people who refused to give up. The future is not lost. It is being built — by us, right now.
🌿 Protect Our Planet: This Week’s Environmental Warnings
The climate crisis generates noise every week. Here is what the noise is actually telling us — and why it matters to our movement.
Forest Service Will Close Research Stations That Study Wildfire Risk
The Forest Service is closing 57 of its 77 research facilities, threatening science on wildfires, drought, pests, and climate pressure on forests. That is a dangerous move when communities need better warnings, better data, and better planning. Cutting wildfire research in an age of megafires does not make people safer. The New York Times
Trump’s EPA chief Zeldin gives keynote speech at climate-denying group’s event
EPA chief Lee Zeldin gave a keynote speech at the Heartland Institute, a group long known for rejecting climate science. He mocked climate warnings while the agency keeps rolling back protections. When the people charged with protecting air, water, and public health start echoing denial, ordinary families pay the price. Guardian
World held hostage by reliance on fossil fuels, Christiana Figueres warns – and climate health impacts are ‘mother of all injustices’
Christiana Figueres the Former UN climate chief warns the world is being held hostage by fossil fuels, and she is framing climate damage as a health emergency, not just an environmental one. Rising seas are already contaminating drinking water, harming food supplies, and forcing people from their homes. The human cost of climate collapse is not abstract. It is happening now. The Guardian
Hockey Rinks Turn to Plastic Ice as Planet Warms
As winters warm and older rinks become harder to maintain, some operators are turning to synthetic plastic ice. That shows how climate change is reshaping everyday life, even in places where ice once felt permanent. But it also raises a hard question: if the planet is overheating, is more plastic really the answer? New York Times
Why the Grassroots Resistance Can’t Wait
💥Your Power in Action: What You Can Do Today
🧪 Take action: Tell the EPA to stop promoting forever-chemical fertilizer
🛑 Take action: Stop Trump’s attacks on the Environmental Protection Agency
🚫 Take action: Stop approving gas export terminals
🛢️ Take action: No oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
🚄 Take action: Sign the petition to support high-speed rail projects
🗳️ Bonus action: Register to vote, vote in every election, and help your community do the same. Our freedoms are won and lost at the ballot box.
Join an upcoming event:
Movement Call: National Day of Action to Stop ICE Warehouse Detention (Tuesday, April 14, 8pm-9pm EDT)
(Monday April 20th, 8pm-9pm EDT)
May Day Strong
On May 1, 2026, workers, students, and families rally, march, and take action across the country to demand a nation that puts workers over billionaires, with many refusing business as usual through No School. No Work. No Shopping. Find an event near you.
The movement for grassroots climate action starts here.
💔 Why These Stories Matter
These stories are not separate. They are all part of the same project: weaken science, protect polluters, normalize denial, and leave ordinary people to absorb the damage. When wildfire research stations close, communities lose tools that save lives. When the EPA embraces climate denial, families lose another layer of protection. When fossil fuels keep dictating policy, the result is not only planetary instability but widespread human suffering. And when even hockey rinks must turn to plastic because winters are changing, we are reminded that climate collapse is reaching into the everyday fabric of life.
But there is another truth here too: people can still intervene. We are not powerless, and this crisis is not beyond political reach. Grassroots movements forced climate into the national conversation, defended public lands, blocked destructive projects, and built the pressure for cleaner energy and stronger protections. What is being dismantled by power can be defended by people. That is why we organize.
🌱 What Comes Next: This Is How We Win
🔬 DEFEND CLIMATE SCIENCE — Demand full funding for wildfire research, forest monitoring, and climate data systems that help communities prepare and survive.
🚫 REJECT CLIMATE DENIAL IN GOVERNMENT — Hold the EPA and every public agency accountable when they side with polluters over people.
⚡ BREAK FOSSIL FUEL DEPENDENCE — Push for clean energy, cleaner transit, and policies that put public health ahead of oil and gas profits.
🫂 TELL THE HUMAN STORY — Climate change is not only about charts and forecasts. It is about children breathing smoke, families losing water, workers facing extreme heat, and communities watching seasons disappear.
🗳️ VOTE LIKE OUR FUTURE DEPENDS ON IT — Because it does. Every race matters when climate deniers are trying to capture every institution that could protect us.
✊ BUILD PEOPLE POWER — Organize. Show up. Bring others with you. Every new person in this movement is one more voice the fossil fuel industry cannot buy and one more reason hope stays alive.
The climate crisis is playing out in your paycheck, on your power grid, and in our communities. We must rise to meet this moment. Together, we can protect our planet and build a just, sustainable future for generations to come.
Laurie Woodward Garcia (paid with hugs and kisses, not bought by special interests) Leader, People Power United
People Power United champions freedom over fascism, progress, and power to the people-and we do the work to make it happen. In this community, we will always speak out against racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, antisemitism, homophobia, misogyny, sexism, ageism, ableism, sizeism, elitism, transphobia, misogynoir, and bigotry!
This is our moment to rise, resist, and reclaim our rights, freedoms, rule of law, and democracy. Millions of Americans are already refusing to back down — in the streets, at the ballot box, and in their communities.
Every movement that was ever won started with people who refused to quit. We are those people.
The future is not lost. It is being built — by us, right now.