Global climate cry is echoed in S.A.
Diverse in age and ethnicity, about 150 people rallied Friday at Municipal Plaza, calling on politicians to take radical action to address climate change.
The protesters were part of a global wave of environmental strikes, with millions of people from more than 150 countries protesting ahead of Monday’s U.N. Climate Action Summit in New York.
In the Big Apple, tens of thousands of mostly young people marched through lower Manhattan. In Berlin, meanwhile, German police reported that more than 100,000 turned out.
“I’m a little flustered, but I’m pissed,” Joshua Amaya, a 17-year-old Trinity University student, said during the Municipal Plaza rally. “This is not just an environmental issue. It is social justice, it is reproductive justice, it is economic justice. It is justice for people of color and indigenous people. It is justice for our youth. And I’m here because they need to
be heard, and we need to speak up for them.”
Parth Ghawghawe, a Brandeis High School senior who organized the San Antonio protest, said he was encouraged by the actions of people around the world.
“I think by doing events like this, they’re going to see that people really care,” he said. “My goal is to show them.”
Inside the government building, the City Council's Community Health and Equity Committee was poring over the details of SA Climate Ready, the city's proposed climate action and adaptation plan to reach carbon neutrality by 2050.
The plan is expected to be adopted in mid-October.
Mayor Ron Nirenberg said the work of the people in Municipal Plaza and around the world was an important show of force.
“I do not think we would be at the point we are without the voices of young people being raised on issues like climate,” he said.
Hundreds of young people who gathered at Houston City Hall on Friday pointed to the catastrophic downpour that canceled school and flooded their city as another example of the need for urgency.
Students Julia Lewis, 15, and Isean Bhalla, 16, addressed the crowd, saying they were stranded at school for hours Thursday due to the floodwaters from the remnants of Tropical Storm Imelda.
“Our community does not have to look far to see the extent to which the climate crisis has affected and will affect our lives,” Bhalla said. “Just yesterday, we had to endure water rushing into our school through our windows. Just yesterday, we couldn’t go home because our parents couldn’t drive past the flooded streets.”
Austin’s protest at the Capitol also largely was driven by groups of K-12 students, who chanted and carried signs with slogans such as “We can’t live on Mars” and “There are no jobs on a dead planet.”
Teddy McCoy, an 11-year-old student at Parkside Community School in Austin, said he’s particularly concerned about the stillburning Amazon rainforest after researching it in school.
“So much of this stuff seems preventable, but people are doing it anyway. You can find other solutions, but … there’s only one Earth,” McCoy said. “Do they not get that?”
Roughly 45 minutes into the protest at Houston City Hall, the sky opened with torrential downpours. Persistent ralliers remained, chanting, “We’re still here!” and unraveling umbrellas or holding signs over their heads.
Some didn’t bother to take cover, standing out in the open as the rain poured down.
“If you’re going to fight against the climate, it’s going to kick back, right?” said Daniyal Taqvi, 29, who was there with the nonprofit organization Who Is Hussain.
While protest organizers in Houston generally didn’t endorse a specific plan when calling for “radical legislation,” several speakers endorsed the Green New Deal, a proposal by progressive firebrand U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and others to dramatically shift the American economy toward renewable energy.
Mary-Jane Buschlen, 57, and Carl Doby, 66, were heartened by the determination of the young protesters.
“My generation is not waking up,” Doby said.
Izzy Richards, a senior at Bellaire High School, said that while Houston widely is associated with oil and gas, the city is a hub for management and executives. That workforce could be redirected to renewable energy sources, she said.
“We are not a city rich in materials,” she said to cheers from the crowd. “No, we are a city rich in innovation. We are a city rich in leadership. We’re a city rich in resilience, and that is why Houston can transition the United States to a carbon-neutral America.”
The demonstrations were partly inspired by the activism of Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg, who has staged weekly “Fridays for Future” protests for a year.
“It's such a victory,” Thunberg said in New York. “I would never have predicted or believed that this was going to happen, and so fast — and only in 15 months.”
Justin reported from Austin, McGuinness from Houston and Baugh from San Antonio. The Associated Press contributed to this report.