Friday September 20, 2019 was a massive worldwide strike to raise awareness and educate the masses on the importance of taking action against climate change. According to UN Climatologists, we only have 11 years before the impact of climate change is irreversible. Here at Eleanor Roosevelt High School students decided to take a stand and speak on how we as a society can change to help reverse the effects of climate change. Workshops were held Wednesday and Thursday to create posters that showed their passion and activism for this issue. Climate change will be detrimental not only to our planet, but to our future as a whole. People all around the world feel strongly about the nonchalant approach society is taking against climate change and they have had enough.

I had a chance to interview the strike leader, Adrian Tayag, who said, “As students, we learn constantly about the world around us and the issues that come with it. UN Climatologists predict that we only have 11 years until the negative effects of human impact on the planet are irreversible. Tayag believes that “Global climate change is a crisis that will plague our future unless institutional change is implemented on a personal, national, and international level. Without change, we will be starting our adulthoods with drastic increases in the frequency and intensity of natural disasters, mass starvation as a result of crop shortages, and disproportionate treatment of the disadvantaged because of climate injustice.” Adrian Tayag had the chance to get help from Dr. Telles, an Assistant Principal here on campus, to coordinate and organize the strike. Dr. Telles said “We obviously want to ensure students safety as a priority and so making sure we collaborated to ensure all of our students stay safe but yet they are able to have their voices heard I think was our goal in this. I feel good about the students and how they used their voices today to speak up in something they believe in.” Dr. Telles challenged students “to use their power to obviously make a change and don’t just walk out of class, but do something more.”

Students who took part in the walkout were asked to set their alarms for one P.M. and let it ring until they exited class for the walkout. They met in the quad by the clock tower where students held signs and gave powerful and inspirational speeches to encourage others to take a stand and do something, not later, but now. The walkout was 11 minutes long to represent the 11 years we have left before the effects of climate change are irreversible. Many students came out to support the cause in a peaceful and respectful manner.

Because the walkout took place during class time many students took the time to miss some content in their classes against the guidance of their teachers. For those students worried about the consequences of walking out Dr. Telles said “That is still something we are looking into, obviously we want to respect their time in doing this rally today but they are missing instruction at the same time so we will be working out a plan on how we are going to tackle that.”

Adrian Tayag said it best; “We’re sitting in a house on fire and it’s our inactive “awareness” that lit the match. As a society, we can put out this fire by taking action and becoming advocates for the environment, but what we don’t understand is that this is so much more than metal straws.” Climate change is a huge issue that we cannot stand by and let happen anymore. We all must work together and do anything and everything to reverse the effects of climate change and find new ways to keep our planet healthy.