The 6th graders organized and led a very successful Climate Strike on Friday, September 20th, 2019.
Pre-March Preparation:
Earlier in the week, the 6th grade students began talking about the Climate Strike and Greta Thunberg’s movement. Students did some independent research and read an article about the strike. This inspired them to want to join the movement! During our class meeting, we discussed how we could join the movement. Students were enthusiastic about marching out of school– could we march to Amherst? The town hall? Eventually, we settled on the library and decided to invite other classes to join us. I sent out some emails, prepared to give the 6th graders some class time to work on it, and waited to see what would unfold. I was not prepared for the huge community response we would get!
The Cafeteria:
At about 12:55, the cafeteria became a hum of activity. “Can we get our signs?” “What am I going to do with my lunch box?” “I forgot my speech in the classroom, can I go get it?” I was glad to be on lunch duty to help the 4th and 5th grade students do their last minute preparations and calm pre-march anxiety! I was proud to see that the 6th graders were going about their business independently and without reminders. Audrey went and borrowed the speaker from Coach Sadie in the gym, Eli grabbed the microphone from the closet, other students grabbed their signs and speeches.
Out the window, we noticed that Natalie Blais, the State Representative for Franklin County, had arrived. She came into the lunchroom and spoke to a few students, before walking out onto the playground to wait for the march to begin.
The Walk Out:
This is our future, and global warming is taking it from us. We need to act now. Thank you.
This is our future. We need to change now. There is no Planet B.
Climate change is not ignorable. We need to change our actions to prevent climate change. Climate change is caused by burning fossil fuels like driving automobiles, flying planes and using so much electricity. We have a few years to change this.
Why are we here? Why are adults not taking charge?
Even though we are small, we have voices too. If we speak up, maybe the adults will catch on and act! We demand change now!
- Climate change is threatening our future. This is your future right now. And we need to find a way to protect it and make it better.
- Why are we here?
- We are here because of a teen activist named Gretta Thumburg. She is leading people from all over the world in a march to stop climate change. And we are doing our best to help her.
- *What is climate change?
- Climate change is when gasses from buildings and cars and airplanes go into the atmosphere and make the world hotter. When the climate is hotter, ice caps melt, oceans rise, storms are stronger and more often, and life gets harder on Earth.
- Why are we here? Why aren’t the adults dealing with it?
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- The adults have known about this for a while and they have done some things, but they have not done enough. Now it is up to us to do something and demand that they do too!
- What can we do?
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- We can ride bikes more and use less gases. Go home and talk to your parents and encourage them to join the movement. do something about it. The more people we get to talk about it, the more likely we will be able to change this.