This is the speech I gave at the 2024 Boston Climate Strike on 9/20. We were gathered in front of the Massachusetts Statehouse.

Hello everyone,

my name is Evan Bell and I am the director of organizing at 350 Mass and Better Future Project.

It is so exciting to be here to today with you all. I am thankful to share this moment with Luisa, having you in MA has been an essential reminder that we are connected to the global climate movement.

I am reminded of the phrase "think global, act local." Some of you may hear a rallying cry for global solidarity, but honestly I hear: think about the big scary problem of climate change, and remember to recycle.

But over the last year I’ve been reminded again and again about the very real importance of our global movement and our local movement that keeps us safe.

We need each other to be safe. Strikes are built around the idea of safety--when I was a labor organizer, we talked about job safety. Here in the climate movement, it's about our homes, our transportation, our air and environments.

To face climate, we need to be "resilient" -- that’s the ability to respond in crisis, the ability to get up when knocked down, or completely restructure when our foundations are washed away. And resilience comes down to our connection to each other. Communities that are more connected are more able to respond in crisis. When you know who’s got the generator, who’s grandma will need a ride, who’s basement will flood first… then you can make a real plan of action.

This happens in our communities. And our organizing builds communities.

We grow our numbers to build political power, YES, and we build our numbers because we can keep more people safe. And we are more safe when we have people around us.

Now, resilience, connection, safety like this scales up! Our movement is able to take brave, risky action because our community comes with us. When we fight the banks, the fossil fuel companies, and our incompetent law makers, our numbers keep us safe.

Our actions in the US keep our friends across the globe safe.

This summer I was one of the hundreds of people who went down to New York City for the Summer of Heat. I was there on a special day though. We were specifically targeting AIG, an insurance company that could insure the East African Crude Oil Pipeline -- EACOP. This is a pipeline funded by French and Chinese companies that would run through Tanzania and Uganda. There was a beautiful rally and march, we had puppets, and speakers from all over, and at the end of the march I was one of 10 people who held a banner in front of the AIG building until we were arrested.

Now, I am proud of taking action, but I am always careful not to fetishize arrest. Arrest doesn’t matter for its own sake. I left that action feeling... fine. Feeling like we did our drop in the bucket. We did one day, one tactic, part of this monumental campaign, part of this titanic issue. but if I am being honest… I felt small. I had risked arrest, I had done all that I could. And it was this little blip.

A week later, we heard from #StopEACOP campaign activists in France, Tanzania, and Uganda. They said that this action, small as it was, was hugely important. Without national attention, without visible solidarity from the US, they did not feel safe enough to take action. But now, they were invigorated. They saw the media coverage, they saw that finally the whole world was watching. A few weeks after our action in New York, 20 Ugandans were arrested for protest -- this was not the first protest, and not the first arrests in Uganda, but this was a big one. And more eyes meant they could be brave. We watched their whole trial. More eyes meant that those who risked arrest– which is WAAAAY MORE DANGEROUS than it was for me in NYC– would be safe.

These activists were released 2 weeks ago. News orgs and activist groups including 350.org and 350 Mass followed the case closely and reported on it.

The repression they face is devastating, but they can be brave. They can take risks because we are with them in this movement. We keep them safe just as we keep each other safe.

So, we stand together today here in Boston. We are resilient locally, held together by our interlocking roots. We store extra cans of beans and check in on our elderly neighbors, and we STRIKE alongside our friends! And we are resilient globally, organizing in solidarity with our friends around the world. Our movement is our power, AND our movement is our safety.