Earth Day Rally To Be Held Saturday In Downtown Oklahoma City

This weekend Earth Day rallies will take place all around the country, including one in downtown Oklahoma City.  

“Global warming is real, human made, serious, and demands action now,” said Nathaniel Batchelder, Earth Day rally organizer.  

Batchelder has participated in Earth Day rallies since they started 42 years ago.  

“It was actually started during the Nixon administration, and it was a real big deal for a while, and it’s kind of faded a little bit, but it’s up again now because of global warming and climate change,” said Batchelder.  

This weekend’s rally was organized by Peace House in OKC. Rally speakers include OKC Councilwoman Jobeth Hamon, Sierra Club State President Cheyenne Branscum, NAACP-OKC President Garland Pruitt, OCU Ecological Ethics Professor Mark Davies, and OCU Sunrise.org member Phil Moll. A closing prayer will be offered by Rev. Kayla Bonewell, Senior Pastor at Church of the Open Arms UCC and Cathedral of Hope UCC.  

‘We have a couple of people coming to sing a song, we have drummers coming to start the whole thing off with drummers and then we have five speakers,” said Batchelder.  

“We are supposed to leave our land and this environment in better shape than when we found it,” said NAACP Chairman and rally speaker Garland Pruitt.  

“We are care takers of earth, the god almighty put us in charge of being responsible and we have an obligation and responsibility to take care of that,” said Pruitt.  

The rallies are important to bring awareness to things we can do every day.  

“You know one of the most important things has to do with coal oil and gas, which means sometimes we can drive less, or we can carpool some people use a bicycle,” said Batchelder.  

Earth Day rallies only work when we all do our part.  

“People are learning about this issue, and every person can make a difference,” said Batchelder.  

The rally is scheduled for Saturday, April 23 from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., on the corner of Robinson and Sheridan in downtown Oklahoma City.