New York City students joined today’s global “Fridays For Future” rallies demanding that elected officials, including New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, declare a climate emergency. Around 150 students gathered on the steps of New York City Hall after they had marched over from the United Nations alongside climate activist Alexandria Villaseñor who has been protesting in front of the U.N. every Friday for the past five months. A second contingent of students assembled in City Hall Park before they marched across the Brooklyn Bridge.
Protests were held in cities and towns across the world and came two days after the U.K. Parliament declared a climate change emergency, the first country in the world to do so. While the proposal is not legally binding, it does show that politicians in the U.K. take the danger of climate change seriously. New York City students demanded the same actions from their elected officials.
Harper, a 14-year-old student from M.S. 447, “Climate change is the issue of our generation. Our president is 72 years old. I don’t’ know that in his lifetime he will feel the effects of climate change but we will. In the 145 months, we have until climate change becomes irreversible most of us will be able to vote. But the earlier we start making a change, the earlier we can reverse climate change and make it, so our children and grandchildren don’t have to skip school to come here. We are preparing ourselves for an uncertain future.”
The “Fridays For Future” movement, which was called into life by Swedish student and climate activist Greta Thunberg has been gaining momentum in recent months worldwide.
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