An ‘apocalyptic’ problem: Nashville students to join nationwide youth climate strike on Friday – The Tennessean
An ‘apocalyptic’ problem: Nashville students to join nationwide youth climate strike on Friday The Tennessean
On Friday, high school students nationwide, including those in Nashville, plan to participate in a Global Climate Strike to fight for the future of the planet.
Erin Dundon’s interest in climate change started rather “garden variety,” if you will.
She had always accepted the science behind Earth’s changing weather patterns, and it became more and more apparent into her teenage years that the environment was in jeopardy and her generation was going to have to deal with the ramifications.
It’s an apocalyptic problem, the 16-year-old Dundon said.
“We are closer and closer to the point of no return.”
Decades from now, Dundon said she wants to be able to say she did something about it.
On Friday, she will join tens of thousands of high school students from cities across the country who plan to attend Global Climate Strike events nationwide.
The movement comes from a tidal wave of worry about the future of the planet.
In Nashville, Dundon will lead a group of more than a dozen students from the University School of Nashville who plan to join several hundred others in front of the Tennessee State Capitol at 11:30 a.m. to call for immediate action to end climate change.
Teens from other local high schools and around the state plan to join the event. It is being organized locally by the 16-year-old Chattanooga student Dylan Flynn, who is the Tennessee leader for US Youth Climate Strike.
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Flynn was inspired to join the cause after taking an environmental science class at a local community college. There will also be youth strikes in Maryville, Knoxville, Chattanooga and Memphis on Friday, Flynn said.
“We are walking to the Capitol to make a point,” Dundon said. “We want the government, specifically Tennessee state government, to take action. They are responsible for us.
“We are disrupting our normal daily lives, because climate change is disrupting all of our lives.”
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Friday night, several hundred more are expected to gather in Nashville’s Public Square for a companion rally to inspire others to join the youth mission movement to combat climate change.
There will be featured speakers from the Sunrise Movement, a national non-profit social welfare organization that organizes young people who view the issue of climate change as an urgent priority.
Attendees, who are encouraged to wear black, will hear from former Nashville Youth Poet Laureate Haviland Whiting, a student at Harpeth Hall. They’ll also hear from student Shelby Tollefson from Clarksville High School, who wants to represent rural communities in Tennessee at the event.
The group also plans to stage a “die-in” where protesters simulate being dead by lying on the ground.
“We are inspired by activists from previous generations who did this to protest wars, guns, AIDS, animal cruelty and, most recently, the continued indifference to climate change,” said local organizer Carolina Sears, a Nashville leader of the Sunrise Movement.
Die-ins have been organized worldwide in the past year. Last Friday, 16-year-old global climate activist Greta Thunberg, who has galvanized the youth climate movement worldwide, held one at the White House.
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The protests will begin a week of activism at the United Nations, including Saturday’s Youth Climate Summit and a U.N. Climate Action Summit on Monday. A second strike is planned for Sept. 27.
“Paper plates and metal straws are great,” Dundon said, “but when it comes down to it, it’s up to our leaders to pass laws combating the change that is happening to our environment. Whether they contributed to this problem or not, they have to address it.”
In addition to University School of Nashville, students from Mt. Juliet High School, Harpeth Hall, Hume-Fogg, Stratford High School, Vanderbilt University, Murray State and Trevecca Nazarene University are expected to participate in the Nashville Climate Strike events, according to Sears.
“We are past the point of arguing whether or not it’s happening,” Dundon said. “We are past the point of arguing the politics of it. It’s something that’s happening, and if they won’t recognize it, we have to.”
Reach Jessica Bliss at 615-259-8253 and jbliss@tennessean.com or on Twitter @jlbliss and please support local journalism.
Join the Global Climate Strike
Nashville is expected to stage two events on Friday in conjunction with the Global Climate Strike movement.
- 11:30 a.m.: Students from schools in Nashville and across the state will meet in front of the Tennessee Capitol Building. More information here.
- 6:20 p.m.: Hundreds are expected to gather at Public Square Park for a companion rally organized by the Sunrise Movement. More information here.
Published 8:12 AM EDT Sep 20, 2019
