Students lead climate change protest

On Friday, students put their passion of caring for the planet to action.

During eighth period, several individuals demonstrated against climate change by standing, chanting, and waving posters in front of A building. On that September afternoon, in 92°F heat, a small crowd gathered to call for government action to mitigate the effects of global warming and to do more to prevent it.

“I feel like I have a duty and a responsibility to do my best, do my part to save earth, spread awareness about the awful things that are happening,” said one student, who asked not to be identified by their name.

The group started with seven students and grew to include 17.

Although the Coronado turnout may have been small, the students were part of a larger global movement in which millions of people took to the streets in all continents, including a few in Antarctica. The youth-led climate advocacy movement was ignited by 16-year-old Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, who first began protesting outside of her country’s parliament building in August of last year. Last month, she sailed across the Atlantic Ocean in a zero-emissions yacht. She delivered a fiery address to the United Nations General Convention in New York City on Monday, and she is scheduled to speak at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Chile this December. Thunberg has become the founder of a climate change movement that has attracted attention from around the world, especially among those who are too young to vote.

“Climate change is really important because we don’t have that much time left, and the only people who are really caring about this are the people who don’t have that much power, which is usually…the students,” said another attendee of the protest.

Young people have used means like peaceful protests to send clear messages to politicians about the type of future they want to have for decades. The practice draws together like-minded individuals hoping to change current conditions.

For now, it remains to be seen what type of action will be taken by countries, if any.