Illinois Youth Climate Strike renews call for action
Hundreds march through Chicago, stage die-in at Bean
Friday’s Illinois Youth Climate Strike march steps off from Millennium Park in Chicago. (One Illinois/Ted Cox)
By Ted Cox
CHICAGO — Hundreds of students and other activists marched through Chicago Friday as part of the latest Illinois Youth Climate Strike protest.
The march began in Chicago’s Millennium Park with a die-in at the iconic Bean sculpture, formally known as “Cloud Gate,” before proceeding on to a rally at Federal Plaza.
“I’m not here just to miss a day of classes or to avoid a math quiz,” said Zara Linneman, an eighth-grader at Whitney Young Magnet High School in Chicago. “I stand up today because I’m frustrated by the inaction of our leaders and politicians in the face of the climate crisis.”
“I stand up today because I’m frustrated by the inaction of our leaders and politicians in the face of the climate crisis.”
Whitney Young student Zara Linneman (One Illinois/Ted Cox)
“That’s why we’re all here today,” said Ella Barry, a student at Benet Academy in Lisle, “to tell our politicians that we are done with them putting their own political agenda above the future and well-being of their constituents.”
Barry renewed the group’s call for a climate emergency to be declared, as well as support for the Clean Energy Jobs Act in Illinois and the Green New Deal nationally.
Josh Simpson, of the Social Justice Institute and the Chicago grassroots group GoodKids MadCity, called for manufacturers to be held accountable for their pollution and greenhouse-gas emissions, for additional government funding for renewable energy, and for more sustainable energy, as well as the Green New Deal.
Linneman chided critics who’ve labeled youth climate protesters inspired by Swedish teen activist Greta Thunberg as “paid crisis actors,” adding, “The science is clear and the warnings are even clearer. We have 10 years left before some of the worst effects of the climate crisis become irreversible.”
Numerous studies have suggested that the world has only until 2030, if then, to avoid a “point of no return” on climate change, which has caused coastal flooding and increasingly intense weather disasters from droughts and hurricanes to floods and blizzards globally. The Illinois Youth Climate Strike protesters staged an 11-minute die-in at the Bean to symbolize the 11 years left to act as 2019 comes to an end.
Barry said there were 19 million climate refugees around the world in 2018, and projections are that number could grow to 250 million climate refugees by 2050.
“We’ve got to organize, strike, and vote like never before,” said Miranda Green, a Northeastern Illinois University student and member of Sunrise Movement Chicago. “We want the future that we feel deep down is possible,” she added. “Solidarity is critical in this. We do not win until we all win.”
Illinois Youth Climate Strike marched through Chicago in September, and the next month staged a die-in at Daley Plaza.
On Friday, the League of Women Voters of Illinois registered those able to vote in next year’s election as part of the protest.
Linneman called for Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot to declare a climate emergency. Earlier this week, the University of Illinois joined more than 200 colleges worldwide in signing a letter declaring a climate emergency, delivered to the ongoing United Nations climate conference in Madrid.
Many speakers at the rally at Federal Plaza emphasized their youth and how they were trying to preserve ways of life, foremost among them clean air and water, that previous generations have taken for granted.
Green said, “Life and the beautiful struggle of living is everything we’re fighting for.”
Illinois Youth Climate Strike has set its next protest for March 13, the Friday before the Illinois primary.
Illinois Youth Climate Strike protesters stage a die-in at the Bean sculpture in Chicago’s Millennium Park. (One Illinois/Ted Cox)