Climate activists protest EPA censorship
Over 40 activists protested on Monday outside of a Save the Bay event in Providence in response to a last minute change in the program. The Save the Bay event was planned as an opportunity for scientists from the Environmental Protection Agency to present findings from...
Over 40 activists protested on Monday outside of a Save the Bay event in Providence in response to a last minute change in the program. The Save the Bay event was planned as an opportunity for scientists from the Environmental Protection Agency to present findings from a report on ecological changes in Narragansett Bay. On Friday, event organizers announced that the scientists would not be able to deliver their planned remarks because the EPA was preventing them from doing so. EPA administrators gave no clear reason for their decision, according to the Providence Journal. Protesters say the cancellation is an example of censorship from a presidential administration trying to suppress evidence of climate change
Lauren Maunus, a junior at Brown University and member of the Rhode Island Student Climate Coalition, helped organize the protest. Manus said she was pleasantly surprised by the turnout, but understood why so many people were moved to take action.
“I was very terrified. This really hit me. Because this isn’t just something that happens in DC, which I care about, but this is right here in Providence.”
Maunus attended the Save the Bay event and said that most of the information in the report was presented by speakers standing in for the EPA scientists. According to Rhode Island Public Radio, Democratic Rhode Island legislators said they were disappointed by the politically-motivated cancellation.
Credit: Lauren Maunus. Protesters accuse the EPA of silencing scientists.