The Arizona Youth Climate Strike held a protest in an effort to convince the city of Phoenix to make change and show action for climate change at the Phoenix City Hall on Friday, Dec, 6.
Human activities are changing the natural greenhouse which is what causes climate change, according to NASA’s Global Climate Change website.
The Arizona Youth Climate Strike Phoenix paired up with the Sunrise Movement Phoenix, the Extinction Rebellion Club and the Sierra Club – Grand Canyon chapter for this protest.
“Phoenix has a very bad climate action plan, it’s really outdated, it was last updated in 2009, so we are trying to improve that and try to make change from the city level,” Aditi Narayanan, an Arizona Youth Climate Strike organizer, said.
The organizations and the protestors said they had a clear plan for what changes they want to happen in Phoenix.
“We’re here to demand that the Phoenix city council do three things: that they declare a climate emergency, they draft a climate action plan that sufficiently addresses the impending that climate change brings and we’re asking that they take action on that plan. Those are our three asks today,” Sunrise Movement Phoenix member Max Sussman said.
Phoenix community member Tim Hays is also a hub coordinator for The Sunrise Movement Phoenix and grew up in Pacific Palisades, California.
The Woolsey fire, a climate change driven disaster, burned Pacific Palisades to the ground last year and killed 85 people.
“I’m an older millennial and I’ve never known a world where global warming, climate change, whatever you want to call it, wasn’t an issue,” Hays said.
Protestors said climate change is important because it is changing our world and how we, as citizens, live.
“I’m passionate about climate change because I think it ties in with literally every other issue in the world, like making better jobs, poverty and social issues,” Mackenzie Saunders, a protestor said.
“When we talk about climate change, we talk about everything from immigrant justice to food justice to transportation to the way our cities our built to the water we drink,” Arizona Youth Climate Strike organizer Jessica Bristow said.
The protest started outside where the protesters learned chants to say to all the members at the Phoenix City Hall.
“To the city of Phoenix, we are here today because we need you to take action, declare a climate emergency, declare a climate emergency please, and we’re gonna keep on showing up until you make the change we need,” they chanted.
The protest showed the importance that action can have on our people for the city of Phoenix and all over the world, said Claire Nelson, another Arizona Youth Climate Strike organizer.
“We need to take action to make sure we have a livable world in the future for my children, for everyone’s children, for us,” Sussman said.
Phoenix is the 5th biggest city in America and sets an example for all other cities and towns in Arizona and across the nation, according to the Arizona Youth Climate Strike protest FaceBook page.
“There are people in this city, blocks away from where we are now, dying on our streets for no reason,” Hays said. “We can fix that, but it has to be us.”
The consequences of Climate Change are too dangerous to ignore, yet the people in charge continue to do so, according to the Arizona Youth Climate Strike protest FaceBook page.
“All other generations have failed us and it’s our time to take control,” Nelson said.
Contact the reporter at leberman@asu.edu
