Tacoma, WA: On Friday, December 6th, youth activists are holding a climate strike as part of the growing global response to the climate crisis. The rally will be held from 12pm – 2pm at Tollefson Plaza in downtown Tacoma and will feature youth speakers and performers, with opportunities for young people to share their experiences and concerns surrounding the climate crisis. This will be the third major youth-led climate strike in Tacoma held in coordination with the youth-led climate justice movement worldwide, with climate strike events planned across the US.
Inspired by youth activists like Greta Thunberg, the student school strike movement has grown rapidly around the world and youth organizers are now calling on adults to join them as allies to address the urgency of the climate crisis. The organizers are striking again on Dec. 6 to continue pressuring local politicians to take firm action on the climate crisis, and connect concerned Tacoma youth to the broader movement.
Local middle schooler Jadyn Kane, 13, has been involved with all three Tacoma Youth Climate Strike events in 2019 and says, “I’m striking for my future. I’m striking for my parents’ generations’ future. I’m striking for Mother Earth. I’m striking for the polar ice caps. I’m striking for the Green New Deal”. Paula Davidson, 25, also a young organizer with the event says, “every person is important in this movement, and that’s why we’re doing this, is for us to all still be here in order to express and love and share innovate sustainability together.”
“The climate crisis is ultimately a social problem, as well an environmental problem. It originates from social structures and has very real human impacts,” says Sarah Dunn, 25, an organizer with Sunrise Movement Tacoma, “it also creates an opportunity for us to critically examine our world, our place in it, and how we live as a community.” Theo Sullivan, 12, a local student who first began striking from school a year ago, wants people to know why he’s striking. “I love planet earth because it’s where we live, and without it, where else would we live? Any other planets are either too hot or too cold, so this planet is just right. We should keep it because there is no planet B.”
Local students are expected to participate in the event with support from a variety of sources including parents and community members, with some local schools providing excused absences and transportation to the climate strike.