Why did XR Boston take to the streets on April 26, 2025?

Photo by Sam Mauri, @sam.mauri

Climate activists from Extinction Rebellion Boston (XR) marched down Boylston street on Saturday April 26, shutting down two lanes of traffic, to demand that Governor Healey ban fossil fuel infrastructure expansion in Massachusetts and stand up to the Trump administration's rollback of life-saving environmental protections. This comes after Trump froze billions in climate and infrastructure funds with an executive order on his first day in office. On April 15, a federal judge ordered the federal government to unfreeze the funds. In response, the White House released news that Trump hopes to launch a new executive order that strips environmental groups, specifically climate groups, of their tax exempt status. If they suddenly become subject to federal taxes for their donation-based model, nonprofits face collapse. Rumors also swirled that Trump intends for the order to include a provision for seizing funds from these organizations and possibly classifying them in the same category as domestic terrorists. The executive order was expected to be released on Earth Day, Tuesday April 22. The executive order has not yet been released, but the threat remains.

At around 1 pm on Saturday April 26, activists gathered near Hynes Convention center and marched down Boylston Street, disrupting traffic for nearly two hours. As they marched, activists held banners reading "Protect People and Planet" and "Planet Over Profit." They chanted phrases like, "When Planet Earth is under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!" and "Act with urgency, this is an emergency!"

When asked why she participated in this act of protest, XR Boston member Jana Pickard-Richardson said, "I’m marching because we need Massachusetts to step up and lead, not just on climate, but on resistance. We need our leaders to fight back against a regime that is snatching our neighbors off the streets, that is separating families, and that is hellbent on poisoning our air and water for the benefit of the ultra-wealthy. Our leaders in Massachusetts need to step up and stop all new fossil fuel projects in our state."

As activists marched down Boylston Street past branches of major fossil fuel investors like Bank of America and Liberty Mutual, they chanted slogans criticizing these companies' role in creating the ongoing climate crisis. Across from the Bank of America at Boylston and Berkeley St., participants held tombstones displaying causes of death which will take lives because of fossil fuel industry deregulation - including "Killed by Air Pollution", "Killed by Hurricanes," and "Killed by Wildfires." Bank of America is currently the world's third largest financier of fossil fuels, and despite promises otherwise, continues to fund new coal mines and Arctic oil drilling. From there, they marched through Boston Common to the Massachusetts State House.

For decades, climate scientists have been warning that without immediate action to curb fossil fuel emissions, earth is on the path to ecosystem collapse, deadly natural disasters, and mass extinction. But at this crucial moment for getting our planet on a better track, Donald Trump's presidential administration, backed by billionaires and fossil fuel companies, is instead using every tool at its disposal to scrap sustainable infrastructure projects and expand oil drilling.

In fewer than one hundred days in office, Donald Trump has already begun to attack environmental regulations and sell off federally protected lands to the highest bidder for destructive mining and drilling. He has pulled billions of dollars of government funding for wind and solar power projects which were already underway, and instead given oil companies a direct line to the White House to request exemptions to environmental protection laws. These policies put millions of Americans at risk of cancer, lung disease, and poisoning from air pollution and groundwater contamination.

Trump's administration has also launched deadly attacks on climate science, going so far as to destroy disaster-preparedness systems just for the purpose of suppressing the truth about the climate catastrophe. Elon Musk's so-called Department of Governmental Efficiency has decimated staffing at the National Weather Service and NOAA, destroying our ability to prepare for and respond to hurricanes, wildfires, and other natural disasters which will only become more destructive in coming years due to the escalating climate crisis. Trump and his allies have attempted to silence dissent against these deadly policies by removing crucial climate data from government websites, spreading blatant disinformation, revoking climate research grants, and firing scientists who speak the truth about the climate crisis.

Ren E., an activist who participated in the die-in said that, for her, this Earth Day related action is about recognizing our collective power to oppose this onslaught of attacks: "I am marching because the sheer volume of executive orders--rewriting history and dismantling human rights--can make it easy to get overwhelmed or to think climate isn't worth focusing on. But if we let ourselves get complacent, we are proving that this strategy works. We can't let this administration trade millions of current and future lives for the benefit of a few lobbyists and oil company execs." She added, "We have to remind the world that the real return on this investment isn't money, it's death."

Massachusetts has ambitious goals to reduce GHG emissions by 50 percent from 1990 levels in 2030 and achieve Net Zero emissions limits in 2050. Governor Healey has been hailed as a "climate Governor," even delivering a keynote speech at last year's Vatican Climate Summit. However, she has refused to publicly speak out against the proposed expansion of private jet infrastructure at MassPort's Hanscom Field, which would effectively cancel out 70% of the climate gains from solar photovoltaics in the entire state of Massachusetts. She is also allowing Enbridge to move forward with Project Maple, a proposed methane gas pipeline expansion project, which will expand its “Algonquin” Gas Transmission (AGT) Pipeline system in the Northeast, affecting Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, and Rhode Island.

"Governor Healey and the legislature must take strong steps to block Trump’s ecocidal war on the planet," said Monty Neill, a long-time activist with Extinction Rebellion. "But so far, Massachusetts' response to the climate crisis has been weak. The goal of carbon neutral by 2050 is decades too late. Governor Healey won’t commit to stopping private jet airport expansion at Hanscom and elsewhere, nor has she clearly said the state will block gas pipeline expansion, nor has she declared a climate emergency. It is not enough to talk about climate, what is needed is strong action to protect the people and the planet."

Since 2022, XR Boston has rallied around its "No New Fossil Fuel Infrastructure in Massachusetts" campaign, with nonviolent civil disobedience actions like September 2022's massive traffic disruption in downtown Boston and 2023's occupations of the State House (including the "mooning action" where activists pulled their pants down during a formal legislative session to reveal the message "Stop Passing Gas" written across their backsides, in protest to laws passed that support fossil fuels).

2024 included the disruption of private jets at Hanscom Field to protest the proposed expansion, which resulted in MEPA rejecting the developers' Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) and requiring them to submit a new one to continue the project. In September 2024, XR Boston members locked themselves to the State House gates for a series of days, protesting the legislature dropping the Climate Bill over the summer. Shortly afterwards, the Climate Bill was resurrected, and it was signed into law earlier this year.

Extinction Rebellion Boston is committed to creating disruptive acts of civil disobedience to disrupt business as usual and demand that our leaders take immediate action on the climate crisis. If you're feeling fired up and ready to make some good trouble, join a Non-Violent Direct Action training.