“Act as if your house is on fire,” said 16-year-old climate change activist Greta Thunberg. Thunberg has moved millions of youth climate activists with messages like this one, reminding GenZ and older generations alike of humankind’s part in wreaking havoc on the Earth’s environment. While the growing threat of climate change has caused some to fear, Thunberg stresses humanity’s ability to change the narrative and improve the quality of life of Earth in the coming years.

It is especially fitting that Thunberg has become the face of the modern-day climate movement. Since 2018, her Fridays for Future protests of sitting outside Sweden’s Parliament demanding action has caught the world’s attention. She has proven that activists as young as 15 can and should be acknowledged for their efforts to protect the environment. As an inspiration to GenZ youth across the world, more individuals are getting more involved in climate reform advocacy efforts than ever before. This is likely due to the decisions politicians make regarding climate control in the months to come will directly influence the quality of life for all on Earth unlike any other.

The most recent massive stand taken by activists was on Friday, September 20th’s Global Climate Strike. 1.1 million students in New York alone were granted permission to miss school on Friday for this event. Strikes took place in countries across the world and in cities like Washington DC, Fort Lauderdale, Los Angeles, Miami, Louisville, and across the Atlantic in London. Here are a few direct accounts of marchers across the country.

Twitter user: RDlenix from the 22nd floor of 45 Broadway, NYC

Nicole Victoria Gazo is a passionate climate activist and a student from Miami Florida that attended the strike. Gazo stated, “We protested outside of Miami Beach City Hall for climate injustice and to call all the media’s attention towards us and our demands. The strike is a week before the UN climate conference so we wanted to send a message in masses; that we are not up for this bullshit anymore… we will not allow them to steal our future. Inspired by Greta Thunberg, we sacrificed a day of our education to use our voice and make our stance against the greed and political unwillingness to make this planet a better place. Thanks to Greta’s movement and her inspiration she brings to young people, she got the president of the European Commission to spend billions on solutions and tactics to tackle climate change. That’s what we want to get out of these strikes. We want plans and goals. Politicians talk too much, it’s time for them to act.” During the strike, Nicole and other members of the climate organization, CLEO, were pulled aside to speak to the commissioners of Miami Beach.

“They seemed to thoroughly endorse the strike and support us, so hopefully, we start seeing investments in renewables rather than fossil fuels,” Nicole Victoria Garzo

Joseph Ravago is a first-year student at Georgetown and attended the climate strike protests in DC. “We started from John Marshall Park and marched to the steps of the Capitol building. I really enjoyed the unity and community of all the different types of people coming together for a cause, it really shows how if we have a united front that we can make a huge change.”

For climate change activists like Joseph, he believes that this social issue isn’t one that is debatable. He concludes that politicians need to start making change and make that change fast. “This shouldn’t be a partisan issue, this is the issue of the right to a sustainable future and the youth will continue to fight the fossil fuel companies, corrupt politicians, and climate deniers until we can ensure a sustainable earth for our children and future generations.”

Nicole Buckley, a student also from Florida, marched in Ft. Lauderdale. Her favorite part about marching is the incredible energy everyone involved keeps up. “It brings so much attention to the movement. And I would like to stress that this is a movement.” She believes more and more individuals and groups will take part in Fridays for future protests. The Fridays for the Future protests are when students and climate change activists either they skip school every Friday, or protest in some way every Friday in support of climate change action.

Source: Nicole V Gazo

Source: Nicole Buckley

Source: Nicole V Gazo

Source: Dharshini Hemnath

Source: Nicole V Gazo

Source: Joseph Ravagoo

What did the impact of marching have on Nicole? She says that she wants to attend more protests. Nicole is taking Six AP classes, is an active member on her school’s debate team, and serves as a tutor to many, so it’s hard to take on so much when there are only so many hours in a day. Yet, she was still a lead organizer for her city’s protest and planning a field trip for an estimated 40 to 50 students which later was called off by her school. Those original 40 to 50 students turned into around 200 students from other schools and her own that joined her in marching in front of the Broward County Public School Building.

“The youth movement has already started affecting how politicians think and how they act. We can see in the democratic debates that more politicians are talking about climate change. Their platforms include some form of climate change reform. Now that the youth are participating, it seems the adults have to listen!”

As an activist, Nicole believes that climate change is one of the biggest problems we are facing today. “Climate change is going to be affecting immigration, food scarcity… it’s going to affect our tourism economies, our real estate economies, even our oil economies if we do not resolve this quick enough,” said Buckley.

What has come to be known as the Global Week for Future started out strong and will likely continue to see increased involvement. On September 20th, an estimated 4 million people across the world marched to protect the future of planet Earth. According to Vox, “There were over 2,500 events scheduled in over 163 countries on all seven continents.” The week of activism was strategically placed between the days of September 20th and September 27th to timely fit the upcoming UN youth and policy climate summits. In addition, the 27th of this month will mark the 57th anniversary of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, a trailblazing work of postmodern literature highlighting the need develop more environmentally conscious tendencies for the sake of protecting the future.

It’s clear the time to effect change is now. Neither age nor location will act as a barrier to spreading the message of climate change consciousness this week, this month, and for years to follow.

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