Page 22 - Sonoma County Gazette April 2019

© Tish Levee, 2019
Students aren’t waiting! They’re striking!
Across the world last Friday, March 15th, in the largest climate action ever, students and their older allies, went out on strike. Strikers met in over 130 countries in more than 2083 places, carrying signs, mostly homemade, with slogans such as “Stop Denying, Earth is Dying,” “Sea Levels are Rising and So are We,” and my favorite, “There is NO Plan-et B.” Wherever possible they struck in front of governmental buildings; people turned out in small towns and huge cities.
I I n n S S a a n n t t a a R R o o s s a a 1 15 5 0 0 - -2 2 0 0 0 0 p p e e o o p p l l e e m m e e t t i i n n C C o o u u r r t t h
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a were in Sebastopol, Sonoma, Petaluma, Ukia
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went to Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s office, then to Sen. Diane Feinsteins’s, ending up at a rally at Union Square. Australia and Europe have been holding these events, often tagged “FridaysforFuture,” for awhile, so it wasn’t surprising that 30,000 Aussies struck
t
in Sydney—just one of many strikes in Australia—while over 100,000 took to
the streets of Milan and Montreal. With California’s claim to be a climate leader, it looks as if we need to ramp up our numbers.
April 15th—Next Global Climate Strike!
With California’s claim to be a climate leader, it looks as if we need to ramp up
our numbers—save the date!
Just days earlier, Greta Thunberg, the young Swedish woman who started this movement, was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Just 30 weeks ago, inspired by the March for Our Lives (started by the survivors of the Parkland shooting), she started sitting alone outside the Swedish Parliament; on March 15th she was joined by over 1.5 people worldwide.
Finally, someone seems to be listening!
UN Secretary General António Guerres tweeted on the 15th, “Young people can, and do, change the world...you understand we are in a race for your lives; your commitment & activism makes me confident we will win it.” In an opinion piece for the Guardian’s issue, guest-edited by the school climate strikers, he said, “My generation has failed to respond properly to the dramatic challenge of climate change.” Pointing out global emissions are continuing to rise and the terrible impacts of climate change already being felt, he called all leaders
to come to a global climate action summit in New York this September, with concrete, realistic plans to enhance their Paris Agreement Goals by 2020, in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 45% over the next decade, and to net zero by 2050. He continued, “The latest analysis shows that if we act now, we can reduce carbon emissions within 12 years and limit global warming
to 1.5C. But if we continue along our current path, the consequences are impossible to predict!” This, of course, is what the student strikes are all about. This summit will take place exactly five years after a UN Climate Summit in New York that led to the Paris Agreement—I marched with 400,000 others the day before, in what was then the largest climate action ever. (Please note: the US likely will not participate in this summit, as the current administration has given notice that we’ll withdraw from the Paris Agreement in 2020.)
Recycling is an issue, but reducing is more important.
While urging people to recycle, we need to emphasize reducing consumption. As China rejected more and more of our recycling, many cities found recycling too expensive; now they’re burying or burning their recycling.
Nobel Prize Nomination for Greta!
Thank you TJ’s.
PLANET cont’d on page 23
22 - www.sonomacountygazette.com - 4/19