Save the Earth!
KIDS RALLY TO FIGHT GLOBAL WARMING
Thousands of students from around the world — and across New York City — walked out of class Friday to protest what many see as the most pressing issue of their time: catastrophic climate change.
The global climate action strike and walkout included students from more than 100 countries and has its roots in a 2018 protest in Sweden spearheaded by an idealistic 16-yearold named Greta Thunberg.
In New York, crowds of schoolkids and college students took to more than a dozen locations in protest, including the Bronx High School of Science, City Hall and Columbus Circle.
Sam Walker, 19, a student at New York University, who’s originally from Utah, said he believes a Green New Deal is the only reasonable suggestion for trying to reduce the effects of the climate crisis.
“I think it’s extremely important given that young people are the ones predominantly going to be affected by climate change,” said Walker, who carried a sign reading “Our Time to Lead” to a protest that drew dozens of students to Washington Square Park.
“Just do something. Anything,” Walker added. “We need action now and it needs to be radical.”
Walker’s sense of urgency was shared by student demonstrators from all five boroughs and was also on display in massive overseas rallies that occurred simultaneously with those in New York.
In Berlin, police said as many as 20,000 protesters, most of them students, gathered in a downtown square, waving signs reading "March now or swim later."
Other European cities including Vienna, Madrid and Helsinki saw thousands of students turn out for demonstrations. Students walked out in India and South Africa as well.
The youths were motivated by what many are calling a looming global disaster caused by climate change.
Scientists and academics have warned for decades that current levels of greenhouse gas emissions are unsustainable, so far with little effect.
The world’s average temperature has warmed by 1 degree Celsius since 2015 and is on track for an increase of 4 degrees, which experts say would have far-reaching conse-
quences for life on the planet.
New York City public school officials said students are encouraged to take part in social activism, but kids who cut class Friday will be marked absent under standard attendance procedures.
"We encourage our students to raise their voices on issues that matter to them, and we also expect our students to be in attendance during the school day,” said Education spokeswoman Miranda Barbot.
“We've issued guidance to school communities, and encourage schools to have discussions on current events and about the importance of civic engagement," Barbot added.
But the possibility of being marked absent from class didn't deter hundreds of city school kids from participating in the massive walkout.
“It's our future and we're not going to let it be controlled by people who don't care,” said Georgia Badonsky, 15, a freshman at NYC iSchool from the Bronx.
“We're not going to be quiet about this,” she added.
Badonsky was joined by throngs of other teens for a midday protest at City Hall in lower Manhattan, where students called on Mayor de Blasio and other politicians to take action on climate change.
“There's going to be a collapse in the short term if nothing's done,” said Ruby Swords, 15, a sophomore at NYC iSchool from Brooklyn.
“No matter how much money the rich have or the people have in government, they're not fulfilling their duty to us.”
Lissy Vinocur, 11, of Brooklyn, agreed.
“This is such a big thing,” said Vinocur, who's a student at Brooklyn Prospect Charter School. “My cousin was just born and she could be 5 when Manhattan is underwater and that's not a good thing.”
By late afternoon, all the New York City students converged on the edge of Central Park in front of the American Museum of Natural History on the Upper West Side.
They were joined by some adults who also got in on the protest as the kids tried to use their banner to block traffic.
Police quickly put a stop to that, but didn't interfere when the protesters staged a “die-in” on the museum steps. About 30 minutes later, however, when some protesters tried again to block traffic, cops arrested nine of them. They will face disorderly conduct charges, the NYPD said.