By Ariana Thornton – Philips Exeter Academy
Slogans scrawled on cardboard signs, students in uniform holding multicolored banners, mouths agape, cheers and chants, an undulating crowd: around the world, these scenes of climate protests define recent years.
The climate movement and warnings of a warming planet are not new. In 1893, a Swedish physicist predicted that changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels could substantially alter global surface temperatures. In 1938, English inventor and engineer Guy Callendar linked carbon dioxide increases to global warming.
Preserving the balance of the ecosystem has always been a prioritized value for indigenous peoples. However, it took decades for the issue of climate preservation to reach mainstream understanding; the first Earth Day was held in 1970, according to Global Citizen. Young people were mobilized to become involved in the climate movement only recently.
The youth climate movement was wholly transformed through Greta Thunberg’s “Fridays for Future” school strikes beginning in 2018. According to Vox, the strikes culminated in the global climate strike on Sept. 20, 2019 that included four million people and spanned 161 countries, the largest in history. These sheer numbers alone demonstrate that younger generations recognize the climate crisis we will inherit and are now compelled to take action.
Due to the young age of many student strikers, politicians and adults often view youth climate protests with demeaning concern, or they misunderstand the intended message entirely. The disapproving adults and politicians tsk-tsk and complain that students should not be shirking their education.
On the other side of the spectrum, some politicians share an indulging speech or tweet, giving a diplomatic statement along the lines of, “We need more people like you,” or, “You’re our best hope to save the planet.” Articles and headlines either proclaim the inspirational and exuberant nature of these events or condemn their insolence and corruption.
How flawed all this is.
The enthusiastic scene of many climate protests bely the debilitating pressure, fear, frustration and anxiety that many young strikers endure, to the point where it consumes their everyday lives and keeps them up at night. As they study for the SATs or worry about homework, they wonder whether the future they are working towards will even exist when they get there. Often, striking becomes their outlet. But back at home, students experience exhausting emotional breakdowns, deteriorating relationships with friends and family and other mental struggles that come with sacrificing their school and social lives in order to enact political change.
This saddening aspect of youth climate strikes is not mentioned nearly enough; it is not healthy or sustainable. So politicians championing these students as their models ironically evoke in me a visceral queasiness instead of gratitude and hope. Why are adults praising kids for bearing the responsibilities that they, as caretakers of younger generations, are morally obligated to fulfill? This is neglect of the nation’s children, and it ought to be condemned. It should never be the responsibility of youth to hold adults accountable for their duties and promises.
On Sept. 12, 2019, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted in support of the upcoming climate strike: “New York City stands with our young people. They’re our conscience” (Nation of Change). Maybe adults should have their own conscience.
Thunberg spoke on this contradiction in her impassioned speech at the UN Climate Action Summit, saying, “I shouldn’t be up here. I should be back in school, on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you!” (NPR).
Despite the youth climate movement receiving so much attention, the outcry and hardships of youth are often ignored. For 14 days, five young people—Kidus Girma, 26, Paul Campion, 24, Ema Govea, 18, Julia Paramo, 24, and Abby Leedy, 20—participated in a hunger strike outside the White House and the Capitol to demand that President Joe Biden stand up to Senator Joe Manchin and enact the full climate bill he promised. As their condition weakened, they began using wheelchairs and wrapping heavy blankets around their legs to keep warm in the frigid D.C. weather. They still managed to hold signs declaring the reasons for their hunger strike. “For my future,” a sign said. “For my future children,” others said, and, “Para vivir.”
When asked about the strike in a press conference, Press Secretary Jen Psaki seemed confused as to what the protest was for, giving a lukewarm response that “the President admires [young people’s] activism.”
Why was the administration seemingly unaware of a hunger strike happening practically on their doorstep? The activists tweeted a response: “We don’t want your admiration. Show us the results.”
In a letter they sent to Biden on Oct. 26, the activists wrote, “Our joints creak. Our muscles are breaking down. We are nauseous and dizzy and our vision is blurred…we have not eaten in seven days because you have not fulfilled your commitments to climate justice…You must stand up to Joe Manchin, and choose our futures…Joe Biden, choose us. Be a leader. Keep your commitments and be a champion of climate justice. Choose human survival.”
The same day that she helped send the letter to Biden, Leedy confronted Manchin from her wheelchair as he exited a corporate donor luncheon. After a curt conversation with her, he entered a car and drove away. Leedy shouted after him, “I want to live! Young people want to live!”
These interactions demonstrate how many politicians—most of whom are much older—do not view climate change as an existential threat and lack empathy and understanding for the hardships of youth. They make decisions based on how much their wealth and political connections could be boosted and how much their privilege would be protected. Any consequences are an irrelevant side effect. As a result, young activists are often waved away by these older generations, accused of being overly dramatic about the climate crisis. They are called corrupt when they call out the corruption of the system.
To the strikers, to me and to many others, the years to come will be the last resort to protect our lives. The decisions of politicians today will determine the future of the earth long after they are gone, and they are morally obligated to listen to those who will inherit it. In the words of Thunberg: “I want you to feel the fear I feel every day. I want you to act like your house is on fire, because it is” (The Guardian).
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