This September 2019, the world saw firsthand the incredible power that results when young people collectively stand up and speak out to protect our environment, our planet, and our future.
From sixteen-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg's fiery speech on the United Nations General Assembly floor, to the massive turnouts at youth climate strikes across the nation and around the world, the passion was palpable, and the stakes could not be higher.
In recent history, this was the first time that children and young people have demonstrated to demand climate action in so many places and in such numbers around the world. In a time when rising global temperatures and more extreme natural disasters are being coupled by political inaction and environmental rollbacks, these passionate demonstrations, led by the youth of the world, are essential in showing those in power our collective anger.
Young people: we have the right to be mad.
It is our future that is at stake; it is our ability to live happy and successful lives that is on the line; it is our own existential burden that we will have to face.
So what can we do about it? We must all do what we personally can to help the issue: take public transportation, reduce plastic use, protect our air and waterways, reduce our carbon footprint.
But most importantly, we must keep marching. We must keep speaking out. We must keep holding those in power accountable for our lives and our futures. We must vote.
Like Mahatma Gandhi famously said, "Be the Change You Want to See in the World". We have to do what we can; we have to lead the fight; we have to be the change, because certainly, those in power are not.
And to those who tell you are too young or too innocent to know what you are talking about, use this powerful quotation from Greta Thunberg speaking at the UN earlier this month to show them who they are up against:
"We will not let you get away with this. Right here, right now is where we draw the line. The world is waking up. And change is coming, whether you like it or not."
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