Iowa City youth joined students worldwide as they marched and protested Friday for adults to take action on climate change.
“People aren’t doing anything about climate change,” said Massimo Paciotto-Biggers, a 13-year-old student at South East Junior High. “Today me and a few other kids, we stood outside of our school on strike because there’s no future for us if we don’t do anything about climate change.”
The global youth climate movement was inspired by 16-year-old Swedish activist Greta Thunberg. She began protesting for climate action on a weekly basis in August after she cut class and stood outside the Swedish parliament building.
Paciotto-Biggers and about seven classmates held signs outside their school all day before joining another group after 2 p.m. to march from their school to downtown Iowa City.
More than 40 students from South East and other participating schools marched to the pedestrian mall with specific goals in mind. Among them: Asking U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack to support the Green New Deal and inspiring others to take action.
Students arrived at the pedestrian mall to find more climate activists, including members of 100 Grannies.
Mary Beth Versgrove said it’s important to show support because the young people are doing something the adults should be doing more of.
“They’re not going to wait for us to do stuff,” Versgrove said as she held a 100 Grannies sign. “They’re going to move. It’s their future.”
Students took turns talking about their goals to curb emissions and reduce the impact of climate change. They cheered each other on, told jokes, laughed and read climate-related statistics as parents and spectators looked on.
“Animals have gone extinct that once thrived,” one student said while holding a megaphone. “We are next. We need to start now.”
Lou Spinner, a 13-year-old South East student, said they found out about Thunberg and decided they also wanted to take action.
They told other students about organizing an event for the global climate march and also got support from their mom, Chelsea Bacon. Bacon said she helped Spinner make signs and attended the march.
Iowa City students participating in the Youth Climate Strike arrive in the pedestrian mall. “For the planet!” pic.twitter.com/uynru1CZN4
— Hillary Ojeda (@hillarymojeda) March 15, 2019
“I was afraid there wasn’t going to be many people,” Spinner said. “I’m really glad a lot of people care about this. And it’s going to be more effective the more people there are.”
Walking with the students to Loebsack’s office, Spinner said they hope the congressman supports their cause and takes action on the Green New Deal. As a group of students entered the lobby of the office, they were greeted by Rob Sueppel, Loebsack’s district director. A student read a statement out loud describing specific actions they want to be taken to curb emissions.
“I’m sorry, Congressman Loebsack isn’t here,” Sueppel said. “But I most definitely will give him these demands and these solutions.”
The students thanked Sueppel and filed out to talk about the strike and their goals.
“I think it went pretty well,” Paciotto-Biggers said. “I think this was very important and being a part of this was very good because this can make a change. I thought it was pretty fun.”
Reach Hillary Ojeda at 319-339-7345, hojeda@press-citizen.com or follow her on Twitter at @hillarymojeda.
[Source: Press Citizen, 15 Mar 2019]
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