Hundreds Gather to Demand Action on Climate Change at Seattle’s Youth Climate Strike

Overheard among the peaceful crowd: “The time is now everybody/There is no planet B/The oceans are rising and so are we”

By Samantha Bushman March 15, 2019

Strikers sit down to listen to the day's speakers. The crowd was quiet as activists approached the mic, with cheering reserved only for times deeped appropriate.

Hundreds of supporters and student activists gathered on Wednesday morning in Capitol Hill’s Cal Anderson park for a school walk out in support of The Green New Deal and environmental activism.

The event was part of a worldwide movement started by Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg, who has spent almost every Friday for the past year skipping school to sit in front of parliament buildings demanding action on climate change. Seattle’s was one of the many happening around the state, and world. Earlier today, Thunberg tweeted that there were “over one million students on school strike today.”

“We want to send a message that we won’t stand idly by anymore,” said 17-year-old event organizer Lydia Ringer, of Roosevelt High School.

The message was bolstered by a series of speakers including King County Executive Dow Constantine, climate scientists and students from around the region, who led chants and discussed how to make a difference in their communities.

From within the peaceful and attentive crowd, which drew attendees ranging from toddlers to the elderly, chanting could be heard, “No more carbon! No more oil! Leave your carbon in the soil!”

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