Northview students attend Climate Strike

This article won honorable mention in the 2020 Michigan Interscholastic Press Association spring awards ceremony.

Protests are a way to show that we will not standby passively. We will have our voices heard. Change will come. From the March on Washington in 1963 to the global Women’s March in 2018, protests give a voice to the people. Protests press the gas pedal on change.

Young people from the Grand Rapids area used the power of protest on September 20 and gathered in Westown Commons for a Climate Strike. They demanded that elected officials take the climate crisis seriously. 

As hundreds of voices filled the streets of Grand Rapids chanting for climate action, a larger chorus was heard all around the world as students skipped school in more than 150 countries. Among these were Northview students and graduates who took to the streets to take a stand for the earth.

“I was at the strike because I care about the well-being of my family, friends and the animals around me. It was important to represent our earth and show that people care about it,” senior Samantha Cone said.

This local chapter of the climate strike was organized by the Sunrise Movement Grand Rapids, a group whose goal is to create “an army of young people” to stop climate change. Leaders as young as 14 had the chance to speak in front of the gathered students at the corner of Straight Ave and Watson St. They expressed their concerns regarding climate change and motivations behind prioritizing the issue. 

“Climate change affects everyone in different ways and we shouldn’t sit back and let it strip us of our livelihoods. It’s preventable,” co-coordinator of the Sunrise Movement, Northview freshman Siena Ramirez said.

The strike intentionally took place during the school day to disrupt the system. To show that if the climate crisis is not acted upon now, we could reach a point where school and education are no longer relevant. Although laws regarding climate change aren’t something most high schoolers can vote on, participants knew they needed their voices to be heard because this is our future.

“Climate change is very important to me and I wanted to help show that even if my voice is little or somewhat insignificant by itself, when you come together with people that have the same mindset as you, people hear you,” junior Asa Boosamra said.

Although Michigan does not make the national headlines for catastrophic events such as hurricanes and tsunamis, Michiganders feel climate change in our own way. The decline of water quality, increased flood rates, the water level rising in the Great Lakes and sudden freezing that impacts agriculture are all issues that are directly linked to climate change and influence Michigan. These are issues students marched for.

Chants echoed down Fulton Street as students marched towards Senator Gary Peters’ office and then throughout downtown. The group stopped and gathered outside of the senator’s office to add pressure for his support of the Green New Deal. This piece of legislation is intended to curb the United States’ reliance on fossil fuels and reduce Greenhouse gas emissions. 

Passionate teenage voices were a powerful show of student support at the strike. It was also an example of the strength of what many people can do, no matter their age, when given the opportunity to gather and rise up.

“Seeing other people recognize the slow demise of our planet gives a sense of hope, but we can only lead the future. The strike was a powerful experience that I believe will change the world for better,” junior Layton Stewart said.