Every year I have looked forward to getting together with my Earth- and ocean-loving friends to celebrate our love of and commitment to a healthy and sustainable future. We all tabled booths, learned openly from each other, listened to music, and danced the celebration of our interconnection and our joy at the beauty of life on a healthy planet. Sandra Marshall was inspirational as an organizer and a leader, remaining open to all aspects of environmental exploration and steering clear of judgement and censorship of ideologies and information honestly proffered to the public.
Sadly, all of that has changed in an indication of a sign of the times—extreme bipartisanship, blatant censorship of opposing and valid viewpoints, and the wholesale co-opting of what once was a thriving environmental movement. A movement where infant NGOs really protected the earth at all costs instead of selling out to huge “green” industries with empty promises of “renewable, sustainable, and environmentally sound” energy sources.
This year, SLO EarthFest, with the SLO Climate Coalition and EcoSlo at its helm, undermined the historic impetus behind the Earth Day celebration and have made it their own public opportunity to push a politically and industry driven agenda; one that is clearly noted in their online agenda, mission statement, and demands of all participating vendors. EarthFest is no longer a forum for celebration of working toward Earth’s thrive-ability. Instead, it is exclusionary, focused on a specific agenda backed by political entities, wind energy corporations, coalitions, and well-funded “environmental” NGOs pushing for an unrealistic, and unattainable net-zero energy agenda that, according to one set of data, will help mitigate a coming “climate catastrophe.” In their minds there is no room for opposing views and valid supportable information that invites a different conclusion than their own. Most certainly there is no room to allow for any input from other environmental NGOs that oppose the implementation of these bogus “renewable” industries.
REACT Alliance was formed two years ago to assure that Earth-friendly energy sources are implemented on the Central Coast and to oppose offshore wind after extensive research into the viability of the technology. Last year we applied for and graciously received approval to provide information in a booth as a caring and important voice in our community at the Earth Day celebration. This year we were summarily turned down with this response: “After careful consideration, the EarthFest Advisory Committee has decided to decline your application for a booth at this year’s event. While we welcome diverse perspectives on offshore wind development and other sustainability topics, our commitment to fact-based dialogue and responsible information sharing is paramount. Given REACT Alliance’s history of spreading misinformation, as well as the presence of misleading information currently on your website, we are unable to approve your participation.” In other words, we don’t agree with you and won’t tolerate any opposition accordingly. To state the presence of misinformation without any specificity is a cheap shot.
This year’s EarthFest was a thinly disguised attempt to guide the public into an uncontested and one-sided view of what is truly sustainable and Earth friendly by a co-opted group of climate activists, ill-informed public officials, and a whole slew of folks who have been financially and politically motivated to support an industry that will forever decimate our coastal environment both onshore and offshore.
Earth Day has sadly been politicized and co-opted by EarthFest here in SLO County. It is no longer the open and joyful celebration of diversity within a community that is working to better a beleaguered Earth and to find truly long-term ecologically viable solutions. It has become a vehicle to drive an agenda and to undermine intellectual curiosity and information sharing. It is the ultimate example of how much our society is guided by divisiveness, politicization, and a desire to censor and demean.
I ask all of you who remember what Earth Day truly is at its core to challenge this new direction and to recommit to being a true environmental warrior. Live your lives according to an ethic that makes you personally responsible for your footprint on this Earth. Stay intellectually open and curious and fight like hell for the health of our Earth and her oceans. Δ
Mandy Davis is the president of the REACT Alliance. Send a response for publication to letters@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in May 8-18, 2025.
REACT Alliance continues to publish negative misinformation about offshore wind farms and their harmful effects on the ocean environment. Having them appear at an Earth Day celebration would be like Elon Musk showing up at a privacy rights event.
Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. There is no perfect world, if we are sincere about trying to move away from fossil fuels, one of the costs might be an unsightly horizon or dead seagulls. It’s either that, or our oceans rise and people get flooded out of their houses. We could also ruin regular rainfall patterns our farmers depend on to feed us by melting the polar ice cap and destroying the jet stream and starving to death. There is that.
Alternatively, one could also stick their head in the sand and reject actual science and just call it a “hoax.” I think psychiatrists call that “magical thinking” or “delusions.”