On Friday morning, more than 300 Fieldston students rushed to the 59th Street Columbus Circle train station to join the climate strike at Foley Square where they stood in support of climate justice.
Spearheaded by Sweedish youth activist Greta Thornburg, over 150 countries planned protests to demand the attention of governments and businesses most accountable for the climate crisis our world is currently in. The timely strike was positioned just before the September 23rd United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York City, where world leaders were supposed to revamp commitments to hinder fossil fuel emissions.
Thunberg gained worldwide recognition after her address at the 2018 United Nations Climate Change Conference where she became a staple of youth activism. Every Friday she skipped school, not to go to the park or hang out with friends, but to protest climate inaction outside the Swedish Parliament.
Thunberg initiated a chain effect, encouraging thousands of students to strike and join the Fridays for Future movement (the school strike for climate justice). Vowing not to take planes due to their high carbon emissions, she traveled to New York City on a zero-emissions sailboat. For the several weeks preceding the strike, she appeared on late-night programs like The Daily Show with Trevor Noah and met with other student activists.
Jumping on the Fridays for Future bandwagon, some four million people abandoned their daily schedule on September 29th in efforts to urge leaders to “wake up” to climate change and its already noticeable effects. 2,500 citywide events were organized around the strike and the 1.1 million New York City public school students were excused for the day if they were passionate about protesting.
While many other independent schools gave students two or more detentions for skipping class, Fieldston dedicated the entire day to climate change awareness, allowing students to participate in the march and also offering climate justice workshops on campus. All of this would not have been possible without the help and leadership of the Environmental Dean Howie Waldman, Dean of Students Nancy Banks, science teacher Palma Repole, as well as the science department and other interested faculty. The environmental club assisted, as well, and helped increase student awareness of the protest and assist the faculty with the logistics of the unconventional school day.
Fieldston was one of the first groups to arrive at Foley Square, and they waited for about two hours amongst a growing crowd for the introductory speeches to begin. By twelve o’clock, the square was filled to the brim and adjacent streets were overflowing with even more passionate protestors eager to enter the crowd.
After speeches from young climate activists and hurricane survivors, the crowd began the walk to Battery Park, chanting “there is no planet B” and “sea levels are rising and so are we” as they made their way downtown. Popular signs included “Make Earth Cool Again” and a favorite, “The earth is getting hotter than young Leonardo DiCaprio.”
Upon reaching Battery Park, the crowd enjoyed a performance by Jaden and Willow Smith as well as passionate speeches by activists including Thunberg herself. “And if you belong to the small group of people who feel threatened by us, then we have some very bad news for you because this is only the beginning,” Greta said to the crowd.
Friday was a triumphant moment for environmental activists and supporters of clean energy. At the U.N. Climate Summit, however, little concrete promises were made to alleviate the climate crisis. The United States, having pulled out of the Paris Agreement, did not respond, China made no new commitments, and other countries only made modest promises to address the issue.
“You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words,” Thunberg said to the U.N, “and yet, I am one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is the money and fairytales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!”
