We’re basically just hoping to raise awareness about what’s been going on and people need to take action and that the youth really care. “Honestly, when we were starting out we were hoping to just get like 15 people, and it’s obviously way more than that, which is brilliant. Sophia Patt, a member of Green Team, said they originally expected around 15 people to attend the rally, and that they were proud of the large turnout. Students at the rally shared a sentiment of hope despite bleak climate forecasts. It makes my heart grow seeing all these students here today,” he said. “I think the current administration doesn’t believe it exists and today’s youth, who are charged with doing something about this, are trying to show everybody that it’s really happening, and that we should stand up and listen to them. Mark Johnson, IHS’s Green Team teacher advisor, likewise said he was proud of his students for joining the global strike and taking the lead on climate change. Taking the microphone at the rally, Dominic Woolf, a senior research associate in crop and soil sciences at Cornell University, pledged to support the young people who have created this movement. I hope this rally makes people feel empowered to make changes in their own lives because we can’t compensate for the people that refuse to be a part of this movement,” said Genevieve Chase, a student at New Roots Charter School.ĭata from NASA shows the past five years have been the warmest on record, and a report last year by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned that without aggressive action, the world will face worsening wildfires, food shortages and other catastrophic effects as early as 2040. “The reason it’s turned into a controversy is because we live in corporate America and all the people who have the money know that if we started boycotting all of the main businesses they would go out of business. Some students in Ithaca said they are frustrated that the issue of climate change has sparked a debate rather than launching a national emergency here in the United States. Over 2,000 events were scheduled in at least 125 countries for the March 15 climate protest, making it one of the largest climate protests in history. The Global Climate Strike was sparked by 16-year-old Greta Thunberg, a Swedish student who sat before her country’s Parliament in August and refused to attend school to protest adults’ lack of action of climate change. It’s also fighting for indigenous sovereignty, and that is very important to me,” she said. “As a young indigenous woman I feel the need to step up to the plate with other people here who are fighting for climate justice. Maya Soto, a sophomore at LACS, said it was important to march not only as young people but also in solidarity with indigenous communities. I think that we are the younger generation, that we are the ones that’ll be most affected by the change and we’ll be the ones left with whatever society has left,” said Jacob Ellis, a sophomore at Lehman Alternative Community School. I’m protesting for climate change policies to change. “I’m doing what a lot of people are doing. … Today, we demand that politicians across the globe take our future seriously and treat climate change for what it is: a crisis.” This is a future formed with the interests of corporations and inactive governments who have enabled them as the world around us crumbles to the ground. And what’s infuriating to me, as a member of the next generation, is that this isn’t a future we made for ourselves. Right now, our generation is facing an uncertain future plagued with disasters of biblical proportions. “Like you, they’ve all come to realize a simple fact: we need to take action on climate change. ITHACA, N.Y. - “What do we want? Climate action! When do we want it? Now!” hundreds of young people chanted as they marched from Ithaca High School down to the Commons. By “striking” Friday, local students joined tens of thousands of other youth across the globe who showed up to protest inaction on climate change.Īfter the marchers streamed onto the Ithaca Commons and spread out around the Bernie Milton Pavilion, one of the event organizers, IHS senior Mira Driskell, told the gathered crowd that by showing up today, they have officially claimed their place in a global movement to protest climate inaction.
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