🌎 April Earth Month Wrap-Up: Make Polluters Pay!

🌎 April Earth Month Wrap-Up: Make Polluters Pay!

Here’s a snapshot of what our amazing Make Polluters Pay team has been up to during Earth Month 2025: A powerful show of grassroots action and climate justice in motion! 

 Earth Month Highlights: How We Showed Up

📍 Rallies & Hearings
We had POWERFUL youth-led rallies this month.  A mass mobilization in Sacramento on the 11th, and an amazing community rally in Palo Alto, (organized by Youth-Lead Mobilizing Team member Avroh Shah!) (bottom left) Community members showed up in force throughout the month, with hundreds traveling to Sacramento for three critical committee hearings in the Senate and Assembly.

📣 People Power by the Numbers

We’ve been busy organizing, educating, and mobilizing across Senator Wahab’s district (a swing vote). Spearheading our work on the Make Polluters Pay campaign is 350 Bay Area Youth Fellow Nic Riani, whose direction has engaged dozens of volunteers in the fight. Our dedicated team has spoken with hundreds of Bay Area residents in just the last month. 

🖊️ Petition Drives
Volunteers gathered 235 petition signatures from:

  • Hayward and Sunnyvale farmers markets (6 volunteers clipboarding!) 
  • Class presentations at CSU East Bay (10 classes, 150+ students reached). Organized and scheduled by Ally Zabel, our spring intern from USF.
  • Local churches and community events

📞 Phone Banking
We co-hosted a phone bank with Food and Water Watch to connect constituents directly with Senator Ashby’s office, urging support for the bill.

📝 Letters to the Editor
Mobilizing Team member Allie Johnson hosted several LTE-writing sessions, and six of our submissions were published—in the Mercury News! These letters helped spread the word and keep public pressure alive.

🌟 What’s Next?

The Make Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act has been delayed in its path through committees, but as an urgency bill, it operates outside the usual legislative deadlines. We remain ready to mobilize when it’s time to push this over the finish line.

We’re waiting for our bill to be officially scheduled—but the work doesn’t stop. Stay tuned for upcoming calls to action, committee updates, and opportunities to amplify your voice. Let’s make polluters pay and build a healthier, more just future for all.

In solidarity,
The 350 Bay Area MPP Team