Student organizers striking for political leaders to combat climate change rallied in front of the US Capitol as part of international protests today.
With hand-painted signs reading “denial is not a policy,” and “fight now or swim l8r,” the youth as young as 12 years old demanded adults start cutting the heat-trapping pollutants from cars and power plants that they say threaten their future.
“It is time the world listens to these young people and pays attention to what we’re asking for,” said Maddy Fernands, the 16-year-old press director for the Youth Climate Strike US.
Some speakers stood on a plastic riser to reach the microphones on the podium.
Isra Harsi, a 16-year-old from Minneapolis and daughter of Democratic US Representative Ilhan Omar, said she became concerned about global warming after controversies about gas pipelines being built in her home state. She said she hopes the thousands upon thousands of students skipping school to protest will boost attention from adults.
More than a hundred students marched across Congress’ lawn chanting “What do we want? Climate action. When do we want it? Now.”
The students have demanded “radical legislation to combat climate change on local, state, and national levels,” adoption of “the Green New Deal to shift our country to 100% clean, renewable, and net-zero emission energy sources through a fair and just transition for all communities and workers,” and to “declare the climate crisis a national emergency.”
