Scores participate in Portage climate rally
Teens from throughout the region shared their stories
With chanting and a drum circle, more than 100 people kicked off the Northwest Indiana Youth Climate Rally, held late Friday afternoon.
“I’ve always been interested in just making a change in what we can do for the earth,” said Beatriz Sanchez, 19, of Lake Station, who attended the rally. “I feel like everyone needs to learn what they’re doing to the earth because a lot of people aren’t educated and don’t know.”
Teens from throughout the region shared their stories about how they got involved in environmental issues through song and impassioned speeches about how pollution in their communities, including plans for a waste site across from a Gary school and the lead-tainted West Calumet Housing Complex in East Chicago, impacted them directly.
The rally, held at Portage’s Open Air Pavilion in sight of U.S. Steel’s Midwest Plant, responsible for toxic spills over the past couple of years, and not far from Portage Marina, where 3,000 fish died last month from chemical leaks from ArcelorMittal, was one of similar events held across the region, state and globe.
O rg a n i z e r Et hy l Ruehman, 19, of Portage, said 18 events took place Friday in Indiana, including one at Valparaiso University, and a school walkout is planned for Sept. 27 a t C h e st e r t o n Hi g h School, toward the end of Climate Week.
In all, 800 “Global Climate Strike” events took place around the U.S. and many more were held around the world, from a gathering of about two dozen activists in Seoul using LED flashlights to send Morse code messages calling for action to rescue the earth to demonstrations around Australia that organizers estimated were the country’s largest protests since the Iraq War in 2003.
The protests, intended to send a message to leaders headed for a United Nations summit, were partly inspired by the activism of Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg, who has staged weekly demonstrations under the heading “Fridays for Future” over the past year, urging world leaders to step up their efforts against climate change.
In Portage, signs posted at the pavilion read, “I’m on #ClimateStrike for 100% clean energy” and other goals, and attendants were asked to answer, “What do you love and hope to never lose to the climate crisis?” on yellow cardboard flower petals.
“Adults, you’ve had your time to speak. It’s our turn,” Ruehman, a freshman at Indiana University Northwest in Gary, told the crowd, before making a call for compassion. “Really, the land is not broken. It’s how we’re treating it.”
Her peers shared stories about what propelled them to environmental action. Dani Sipp, 15, of Gary, said her wake up call came in late 2017 or early 2018, when Maya Energy LLC proposed to build a $59 million enclosed recycling
“Adults, you’ve had your time to speak. It’s our turn. Really, the land is not broken. It’s how we’re treating it.” — Ethyl Ruehman, Indiana University Northwest freshman
facility for solid municipal waste and construction demolition waste across the street from her school, Steel City Academy.
“We like to call it a dump,” she said of the proposed facility, which would have sat on a water basin, and which she called a case of environmental racism. “Gary is, a big issue with environmental racism.”
Environmental racism is hard to combat, she said, pleading for an end to ignorance about climate change.
“I have a lot of dreams but none of that can happen knowing in 12 years, climate change will be irreversible,” Dani said, garnering applause when she said she’s interested in becoming a politician.
Marta Frank, 17, of East Chicago, noted environmental racism and denial in her own community, where residents of a leadtainted apartment complex were forced to relocate and industry has polluted a shipping canal.
“It’s one of the most polluted places in the nation, and it’s disregarded, quite frankly,” she said, asking those at the rally to contact Congress and vote in the coming elections. “This is a serious issue and it cannot just be us. The key to these movements is consistency. We can’t just fall out. We can’t just stop.”