Published: 4/21/2020 4:11:54 PM
Youth climate activists are nothing if not persistent. Though the COVID-19 pandemic has forced us to shift tactics, it will not stop thousands of young activists nationwide from holding online climate events to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Earth Day on Wednesday.
From climate strike live streams and online teach-ins to hundreds of Green New Deal trainings all throughout the country, we share one goal — bold climate action that provides an equitable, livable, future for all. I am a sophomore from Williamsburg, co-founder of Sunrise Hilltowns and Our Climate field representative and I will be among them.
The current pandemic is a disturbing test-run for the climate disasters on the horizon. Youth climate activists have made it very clear that in the midst of this pandemic, we must notice the similarities between the climate crisis and COVID-19, the most significant being that marginalized communities and working people are hit the hardest.
Many of these events will include discussions about this and other similarities and why we must keep demanding climate action and environmental justice in spite of these hard times.
That’s why the members of the Massachusetts Youth Climate Coalition will be centering equity and fight for environmentally just policy. From meetings with the mayor of Holyoke with Sunrise Western Massachusetts, to legislative advocacy trainings with Our Climate, to a stunning digital mosaic, our agenda will be full of empowering and important opportunities.
These young climate activists are not going to stop demanding climate action because it’s our future that will be most affected by this existential crisis, a crisis that exposes the weak health care and structural racism in our country. We understand these inequities and have a goal to push good quality, equitable climate policy that people desperately need.
Ruby Chase
Williamsburg