By Sophie Khanna, Staff Writer
Before the U.N. met to discuss international issues and the climate crisis, school strikes for climate change were scheduled for September 20th and 27th worldwide. I joined around 1,000 people outside the Philadelphia City Hall to protest climate change and call for a “just transition to a renewable economy by 2030,” clean energy, reduced pollution, and belief in the science of climate change.
At least 600,000 people participated in the climate strikes in the U.S. According to VOX, there were over 2,500 events taking place in over 163 countries and on all seven continents. U.N. climate talks featuring teenage environmental activist Greta Thunberg started off the strikes very powerfully. Images from the climate strikes flooded social media and news outlets early Friday morning and my excitement started to rise! Could these protests hold our world leaders accountable and create more awareness?
At the Philly protest, the speakers at the rally were all young and spoke about the impact of climate change on their communities and families. I was surprised to find a huge age range among the crowd, with participants ranging from two to eighty years old. This issue truly brought everyone out; it was incredibly empowering to see so many young people holding up signs and chanting, “The oceans are rising, and so are we!” While there wasn’t a citywide permission in public schools for students to skip class to attend, as in New York City, many school groups were still present in uniform. One organizer of the rally, named Vyshnavi Kosigishroff, spoke about how the school districts’ decisions “illustrates ignorance and apathy towards the students’ wellbeing,” and that “non-violent actions like strikes are fundamental to the creation of change, and our schools should be encouraging students to take initiative of their futures.” Her statement speaks to the importance of action when it comes to climate change and having support from elder generations when doing so.
There are many ways to combat climate change on a personal level, like reducing unnecessary waste, offsetting your carbon footprint, protesting corporations that impact the environment poorly, and donating to organizations whose efforts are focused on saving the environment. Some such groups are GreenPeace, Cool Effect, Food and Water Watch, among many others. As the climate crisis continues to heighten, any action affects our future, and young people are watching everything that happens. Many life decisions of young people have already been altered dramatically due to climate change; we need action. It is heartbreaking that we have reached the point we are at now, in our collective refusal to seriously address the issue of climate change.
Sources: Philadelphia Magazine, Vox
Image credit: The Philadelphia Inquirer
