I am going on strike today because I don’t want to live in a world without wilderness.

I have been lucky enough to grow up in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The place I call home is one of red rock and prickly pear cactus, dust and juniper trees and rattlesnakes, yet it is the state with the fourth highest species diversity in the country. Here, in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, I was brought up by the Chamisa desert, aspen groves and pine forests that all so miraculously coexist. The harsh contrast of sharp rock and vast, echoing, azure sky have taught me everything I know about being human.

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I am blessed by this land every day, and I am ashamed that my kind have neglected to care for the livelihood of river otter, black bear, wolf, the smell of the desert after a rain. These are what make my life worth living. And they are diseased, as is the Earth, as is our own culture.

I am sick to my stomach at the already catastrophic loss of beauty we have caused. I am brokenhearted and sad. Most of all, I am angry. I am enraged at the inaction of our leaders, not only in regards to the extinction of species and decimation of wild places, but also at the blatant disrespect for human life and the survival of future generations in a livable world.

It is time to be terrified, enraged, heartbroken, grief-stricken, radical. It is time to act

We are living in the sixth mass extinction. Ice is melting. Forests are burning. Waters are rising. And we do not even speak of it. Why? Because admitting the facts means admitting that we are committing crimes of epic proportions just by living our daily lives. Because counting the losses means being overpowered by grief. Because allowing the scale of the crisis means facing the fear of swiftly impending disaster and the fact that our entire system must change.

But now is not the time to ignore science in order to save our feelings. It is time to be terrified, enraged, heartbroken, grief-stricken, radical. It is time to act.

That is why I have spent the last month frantically organizing a climate strike event in New Mexico. My future is at stake, as are the futures of my friends and family, and whatever next generations we might bring into the world. But our present is also at stake. And whoever is alive at this very moment must have a hand in this fight and a voice in this conversation. So come strike with us! This is home we are talking about! This is Earth!

I am in love with this enchanted land; I cannot live without its wilderness, and neither can you.