On Friday, September 20th, millions of students all around the world walked out of school to protest a similar cause: the lack of action towards preventing climate change.  

Protestors made their passion for the reduction of climate change clear chanting things like: “Hey hey, ho ho, climate change has got to go!” and “tell me what democracy looks like, this is what democracy looks like!”. 

Inspired by activists like Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg, many Americans have picked up on advocating for climate change. The understanding of what we need to do to combat climate change has gone from recycling, paper straws, and veganism to pushing to help communities that are most affected by climate change. “I think it’s really important as someone with a lot of privilege to do what I can to help lift people up,” said sophomore Liam Campbell.  

Other students also expressed their desire to participate in making a change for the climate. “I chose to walk out today because there’s a lot of people in the communities that I know that climate change is really affecting,” said sophomore Zaraia Fabunmi.

The US recently received backlash after it was exposed that they were shipping “recyclable materials” to Southeast Asian countries to recycle. However most of those materials were in fact non recyclable which prompted said countries to return the waste to the US. That changed the way many people view recycling, and has subsequently slowly faded out of what activists say we need to do to prevent climate change (amongst other things).

As the movement to prevent climate change gains momentum individuals all over the planet are becoming increasingly involved working for a healthier planet.  Juwaria Jama, the co-state lead of the Minnesota climate strike expressed how much her organization has had to prepare to make this event happen. “We’ve been organizing for the strike since July. Organizing for something this big takes a lot of people power.”

Many protesters expressed why they thought striking in the capitol was effective. “I think it’s important to strike because it shows the power in numbers and the demographics of people who it’s actually affecting and how they care about it,” said Fabunmi. “It is important we strike so that people can hear our voice, climate change is a global effect, it is affecting people all around the world,” said Jama.

“There was a lot more people here than last year,” said Breck sophomore Sawyer Garrison.  “Students are doing a really good job, I’m glad that there are people that are our age that are sticking to their morals and standing up for something that they believe in,” said Fabunmi.  

Overall, staff members showed support for their students.  “They were very supportive,” said Garrison. “[Breck] sent a bus, there was like 40 people there.”  South teachers showed their support too. “The majority of [teachers] were ok with it, they didn’t give out homework or anything like that, they didn’t have anything too important scheduled on the day,”  said Fabunmi.

There are many things that students can do to help combat climate change. The MN climate strike offers workshops, there will be other future demonstrations and something students can do anytime is to research for info about the climate crisis. “Just participate,”  said Garrison. And as Juwaria Jama said; “the more the merrier.”

You can contact MN climate strike by email at [email protected] or @mnclimatestrike on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.  Their website is youthclimatestrikeus.org.