Photo by Michael Nigro/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images

'This must be the decade of climate action, and this must be the year it begins'

In 100 days exactly, we will strike again. On April 22, the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, young people and adults across the United States will once again take to the streets to demand climate action. Earth Day will launch three consecutive days of massive strikes, fulfilling our promise to take the climate strike movement beyond what we achieved on September 20.

Inaction is not an option. This has been the hottest decade on record and last year was the second hottest ever. Since the bushfire season began in November, fires in Australia have killed 25 people, wiped out over a billion animals, and blanketed cities across the country with historic levels of air pollution. Since 2020 began, thirteen days ago, floods in Indonesia have killed more than 66 people and displaced 400,000 more. These are the signals of climate change — the crisis is here.

We have had enough of the inaction of government and business leaders. Now is our time to come together and be unified in our demand for change. On September 20, 2019, over 650,000 people across the United States, and 4 million worldwide, participated in the largest youth-led climate mobilization the world has ever seen. Over 1,300 locations across the country left school and work, with NYC and Boston school districts permitting students to be excused from school to attend, and hundreds of businesses publicly supporting us.

However, marching and striking for a day is just a start. It’s now time to take it to the next level and sustain this momentum over time. Indigenous youth and youth of color, who are disproportionately affected by the climate crisis, have claimed their rightful seat at the table. We are uniting all youth and adults across nations and movements. We call upon everyone — every single one of you — to join us as we strike for climate justice on Earth Day.

Indigenous elders and leaders have issued warnings for decades. They told of a time when the black snake would rise, and that time has come. Scientists agree that the climate crisis is no longer a future dystopian threat. It’s happening before our eyes, and it’s going to get worse. If no action is taken, the fires will become more frequent, the floods more deadly, and the heat waves more extreme. More lives will be lost and more homes will be destroyed.

It’s not too late to turn things around. Solutions exist. All we need now is the will. We must make the choice, each of us, to join the growing movement and protect our lives while at the same time fighting for everyone — no matter what the color of their skin, where they were born, or their economic standing — to have fresh and healthy food at our tables; clean, safe drinking water running from the taps; and access to a good, meaningful job.

The 2020 strikes will begin on the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. Fifty years ago, 20 million people took to the streets on April 22 to demand a cleaner, healthier environment. This historic day of action led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency and the passing of many laws to safeguard clean air and water, and protect the natural world.

A lot has changed, for better and for worse, in the last 50 years. This anniversary must be a time to not just celebrate our triumphs, but also to look back on our defeats and to build on those lessons as environmental activism has grown and evolved over the decades.

Wednesday, April 22nd, the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, will be the launch of one of the most powerful civic actions for environmental protection in our history. It will provide an opportunity to listen to Indigenous peoples’ wisdom, reflect on our connections to this earth, and serve as an invitation for everyone to make the decision to join us and commit to making climate change action a top priority. It will kick off three days of mass actions, including rallies, marches, strikes, teach-ins, and protests.

Thursday, April 23, will be a day focused on community action. College students at dozens of campuses across the country will be calling on their colleges to stop profiting off of the destruction of our land and climate and to divest from fossil fuels. Adults will be targeting their place of work as well as demanding that our everyday institutions — like Wells Fargo, Chase Bank, Liberty Mutual, and other banks and businesses — take money out of fossil fuels. This is the day that we must reach out to everyone we know and ask them to step up with us.

Finally, on Friday, April 24, we as a country will demonstrate our unity through mass mobilization. This is the day we strike. Led by young people, we are calling on everyone who can to strike from school or work, and take to the streets. We are united in our demands for immediate action to address this existential threat of climate change. This is our time to stand together and use our collective voice to demand action.

This decade may be our final chance to turn things around. As we approach critical elections here in the US, the climate and how it will impact our future must be at the top of every voter’s mind. This is why we are striking for three days. Come November, we need to see a record turnout of young people at the polls, and the Earth Day Strikes will kick off the countdown.

From April 22nd to April 24th, we need all hands on deck to send a message that we refuse to go to school and work while inaction, fueled by greed and profit, threatens our planet. We need everyone — young, old, and in between — to join us.

The three days of action are an open invitation to anyone who believes our generation, and all generations that come after us, deserve a future safe from climate catastrophe.

The time to act is now. This must be the decade of climate action, and this must be the year it begins. We hope you consider this your invitation to join the movement to save our lives, and add your name to Strike With Us.

-

Alyssa Lee, Divest Ed

Marlow Banes, Earth Guardians

Meadow Cook, Earth Uprising

Caroline Choi, Extinction Rebellion Youth US

Camille Petitcolas, Fridays For Future USA

Katie Eder, Future Coalition

Thomas Lopez Jr, International Indigenous Youth Council

Naina Agrawal-Hardin, Sunrise Movement

Feliquan Charlemagne, US Youth Climate Strike

Nadia Nazar, Zero Hour

-

Drew Hudson, 198 methods

Tamara Toles O'Laughlin and Bill McKibben, 350.org

Amy Gray, 350 Colorado

Karen Bearden, 350 Triangle

Maayan Cohen, Alliance for Climate Education

Katie Huffling and Barbara Sattler, Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments

Thomas Oppel, American Sustainable Business Council

Ted Glick, Beyond Extreme Energy

Kassie Siegel, Center for Biological Diversity

Linda Rudolph MD, Center for Climate Change and Health

Mike Tidwell, Chesapeake Climate Action Network

RL Miller, Climate Hawks Vote

Jairo Garcia, Climate Reality Project Atlanta Chapter

Sam Sheka Moi, Community Health

Spike Buckley, Earth’s Call Fund

Denis Hayes, Earth Day Network

Geri Freedman, Elders Climate Action

Rev. Nathan Empsall, Faithful America

Ariella Granett, Flight Free USA

Jane Fonda, Fire Drill Fridays

Ankush K. Bansal, MD, Florida Clinicians for Climate Action

Liz Butler, Friends of the Earth

Michael Hansen, Gasp

Ed Maibach, MPH, PhD, George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication

Dr. Laura Andereko PhD RN, Georgetown University School of Nursing & Health Studies

Rev. Fletcher Harper, GreenFaith

Annie Leonard, Greenpeace

Mike Menzel, MD, Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate

Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr., Hip Hop Caucus

Jonathan Kagi, Kagi Media

Gene Karpinski, League of Conservation Voters

Lauren Burke, Labor Network for Sustainability

Jared Meyers, Legacy Vacation Resorts

Jaquie Algee, March On

Sara Newmark, MegaFood

Charissa Verdoorn, Minnesota Interfaith Power & Light

Dominique Browning, Moms Clean Air Force

Kelsey Wirth, Mothers Out Front

Carol Ehrle, Movement for a People's Party

Manuel Gorrin, Nature's Path Foods

Katya Moorman and Karen Dunn, No Kill Magazine

Rebecca Concepcion Apostol, Oil Change International

Justin Winters, One Earth

Ben Grossman-Cohen, Oxfam America

Brennan Lewis, Peace First

Brandi Kaufman, PeaceJam and Billion Acts

Sam Read, Peoples Climate Movement

Rev. Michael Malcolm, People's Justice Council

Ned Ketyer, M.D., Physicians for Social Responsibility - Pennsylvania

Nadya Dutchin, Power Shift Network

Alan Minsky and Russell Greene, Progressive Democrats of America

Shelley Tanenbaum, Quaker Earthcare Witness

Ashwani Vasishth, Ramapo College of New Jersey

Mike Brune, Sierra Club

Lance Gould, Silicon Valley Story Lab

Susan Jaffe, South Beach District 6 Democratic Club of San Francisco

Raul Monreal, Penn Diehl, and Melissa Elder, Sunrise Movement San Diego

Stefanie Sekich-Quinn, Surfrider Foundation

Will Morin, The Climate Reality Project: South Carolina Upstate Chapter

Mike Harrington, Tishman Environment and Design Center at The New School

Dr. Kathleen Rest, Union of Concerned Scientists

Rev. Dr. Susan Frederick-Gray, Unitarian Universalist Association

Rev. Dr. Douglas B. Hunt, Unitarian Universalist Ministry For Earth

Frederick E. Kowal, United University Professions

John Kerry, World War Zero