(Images: Margo Vansynghel for CHS)
Under an early spring sun, hundreds of students and some parents and supporters rallied on Capitol Hill Friday on the turf of the Bobby Morris Playfield for the Seattle Youth Climate Strike.
The students came to Cal Anderson from schools across King County, including Garfield High School, Thornton Creek Elementary School, Nathan Hale and Sammamish High School. They skipped school to demand legislative action on both local and state levels in Washington, adaptation of the Green New Deal to shift to 100% renewable and clean energy, and the declaration of the climate crisis as a national emergency.
The student-led demonstration was part of a day of protests and walkouts across the US and the world.
During the rally, which included music, poetry and speeches from students as well as County Executive Dow Constantine and Seattle City Council District 4 candidate Shaun Scott, many young speakers said that their generation will bear the brunt of inaction on climate change, while reminding the audience that their generation is also a future voting-booth force to be reckoned with and listened to.
“We, the youth, will be voting very quickly,” said Lydia Ringer, a senior at Roosevelt High School and a member of the larger organizing team of the Strike. Ringer said she was there because climate change will disproportionately affect people of color and low-income people.
“We need to be acting now. We don’t have any more time to waste.”
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