By Alexandra Reilly.
Several Fridays ago, hundreds of thousands of people gathered across the globe to start a movement about protecting the planet. In New York City, teenage activist Greta Thunberg herself made an appearance and spoke about the topic at hand. This climate strike was recorded as the largest in history of its own kind. The global impact of this issue is astonishing when looking at countries that are suffering much worse than America, caring about their planet first. One of the largest contributing factors of why this march was able to be as big as it was is because of New York City allowing 1.1 million students, of public schools that is, attend the strike without penalty from the school. This is a major step in the right direction when overheads begin to see the fire in the youth of the country and give them the freedom to burn. Gwen Attridge, a college sophomore who attended the march says, “The energy of the crowd was invigorating. It was truly life changing to witness this, and it felt like I was seeing history being made right before my eyes.” There are so many important messages to takeaway from this event and this crisis as a whole to apply into day-to-day life to truly enforce change and better the planet for tomorrow.
Greta Thunberg said in her UN speech on Monday, September 23rd, “ The young people are starting to understand your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you. . . Right here, right now is where we draw the line. The world is waking up and change is coming, whether you like it or not.” Greta is a symbol of the power in the youth of the world today and many of the world’s children are stepping up to take action in these marches and in their daily lives as well.
A 21 year old college student Shelby Hall who runs a sustainability blog says, “I’m only one person but I can only hope that when I write about sustainability in any way, it influences at least one more person. It’s a ripple effect.” It is people like this who dedicate their lives and careers to the planet that should highlight to everyone in society the problem at hand. If the youth is able to make a career out of the issues to do with the environment, then it is clear that they need to be solved quickly. This is what they are fighting for in these climate marches, people are hungry for change and they desire to have their planet around for their many generations to come.
Another college sophomore, Siobhan Hayes, reflected on the march, “It was hot, it was cramped. . . kind of the perfect analogy for the climate crisis looking back on it. We shouldn’t have to strike for the survival of our species.” Her words epitomize the climate strike as a whole. Though it is important to speak up for this change, it is even more important to recognize that these are in fact birth rights being taken away that shouldn’t have to be fought for. Many referred to this as a youth strike in particular which is a big part of Greta Thunberg’s primary message about the younger generations being forced to clean up after the older. Although this may be true, Stephanie Miles, another college sophomore, states that “although it was a youth climate strike, it was really cool to see all of the mothers and fathers who took their young kids out of school to walk beside them in the march,” clearly showing union of the age groups and perhaps the willingness to change on behalf of the older generations. This willingness to change is something that must be understood and practiced in every household and lifestyle in order to truly allow change. We must practice low waste lifestyles and truly re-learn the meaning of the once youthful phrase “Reduce, Reuse and Recycle,” and redetermine the future of mother earth.
This climate strike has been a major step in the right direction for environmentalism. It must be protected and it must not be forgotten or viewed as a simple one day phenomenon. This is an ongoing battle and every soldier must fight for what is right. The Go Green mentality is something not to be undermined or taken lightly. It is change and an obligation to do right by the planet. We must try our best to put green practices into play everyday. All we have to do is our conscious best and once enough people care to do at least that, the environment will stand a viable chance for more generations to live their lives on our Earth happily and healthily.
