PALM BEACH, Fla. — An estimated 500 people marched to the edge of Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club Saturday, hoping to turn up the heat on a president they say has turned his back on the threat of climate change.
“The time for denial is over,” said Patrick Ferguson, an event organizer. “The time for climate solutions is now.”
Protesters gathered at George S. Petty Park in West Palm Beach, Florida, walked along Flagler Drive and crossed the Southern Boulevard Bridge into Palm Beach around noon. Toting signs and chanting slogans, they marched down to the Southern Boulevard roundabout, circling it and back toward the bridge and out of town. President Trump is not in town this weekend.
“Sea level rise affects us all, especially in South Florida, and that includes Mar-a-Lago,” said Ferguson, a representative of the Sierra Club Florida.
The protest was part of the People's Climate March, which originated with a massive demonstration in New York in September 2014. Tens of thousands of people gathered in Washington on Saturday, enduring sweltering temperatures while protesting Trump's rollbacks of environmental protections and Obama climate policies.
At the Palm Beach event, Alex Newell Taylor of the Women’s March said environmental justice is very much a women’s issue. “As a woman, I want clean water to drink, I want clean air to breathe and I want to see our beautiful planet protected,” she said.
The climate denial problem is bigger than Trump, she said.
“We have too many people in power who put profits and corporate interests over the health of our planet and its people.”
David Gibson, an event organizer and Coconut Creek resident, said embracing climate change solutions means “devoting resources to climate change mitigation, and no more resources to war and fossil fuel extraction.”
Robert Lewis of Lake Worth carried a sign reading “Make America think again.”
Lewis said Trump is bowing to the interests of big oil and big coal while gambling that the nation’s elite will be able to ride out a climate-driven catastrophe. Left behind will be “all those people who will be displaced, who won’t be able to grow food, whose economy will be ruined, whose water will be tainted,” he said.
“Don’t stop being outraged” read the sign toted by Dave Haglund of Tequesta, who said he’s participated in several demonstrations in the 100 days since Trump took office. This is not a time for complacency, he said.
“This involves everyone, and we’re running out of time,” he said.
Palm Beach Police were on hand for crowd control and safety. The Palm Beach portion of the march, which lasted about an hour, was peaceful and occurred without incident, according to Sgt. Scott Duquette. Last weekend, demonstrators came to the island as part of the March for Science.
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