Clever signs, chanting, thought-provoking speeches, and taking a stand for what they believe in. On Friday, Sept. 20, seniors Sage Dieffenbach and John Kircaldie skipped school to go to Youth Climate Strike in Boston.
Crowds of children, teenagers, and adults gathered together in the city, some holding signs and chanting, some screaming into microphones on stage to call attention to the pressing change in climate.
“It was really packed and busy,” Kircaldie said. “We stood off to the side and kind of watched over this big group of people. It was really fun to see what everyone was doing and to experience how much they all cared.”
Though everyone present believed strongly in the purpose, they stayed calm to effectively convey their message.
“Everyone was pretty peaceful, they were just passionate about the topic, but they weren’t aggressive or fighting or anything like that,” Dieffenbach said.
The pair and Dieffenbach’s mom decided to go, after Dieffenbach heard about the strike through a friend, who is a climate change representative for his school in Massachusetts.
“I was pretty on board after he told me about it because I thought it was for a good cause,” Dieffenbach said. “I feel like a lot of teenagers should get involved, because it’s our future at stake, and we don’t want our future to be trash, so we have to do something about it.”
This problem is much bigger than the two of them, but they decided to go ahead and put some of the weight on their shoulders anyways.
“I decided to go because I feel like it’s really important and it affects our future, so why wouldn’t you want to do something about it,” Dieffenbach said. “I just don’t think that something so big should just be kind of like brushed aside. It’s something that’s very important to me.”
The protesters hoped to bring more attention to the topic through the climate strike, though the effects are still unclear.
“The main thing I wanted it to accomplish was to try to get some new leaders and get some political change or action taken against it,” Kircaldie said. “As far as it is right now, it’s hard to see if it was truly successful. I’m hoping it was, but I don’t really know if it was or if it wasn’t at this point.”
The two of them believe that young people like them going to events like these and taking a stand is essential in making a bigger change.
“I really feel like it’s our duty to stand up for this, because no one else is really doing anything,” Kircaldie said. “People older than us aren’t acting on this, and it’s our future, so we need to take a hold on it, or else no one will.”
Dieffenbach and Kircaldie are urging people to pay attention to the climate change that is going on around them and to do something about it, even if it’s just small things here and there.
“I want people to get involved in anyway that they can,” Dieffenbach said. “It’s important to do positive things for this movement, even just around your house, like recycling and stuff like that. It doesn’t have to be a lot, but we can all just make a little difference to help out the planet.”
