Haidee Chu
Local high school students gathered in the Capitol Rotunda to press for faster action on climate change and announce plans for a march.
They’re tired of waiting for adults to get serious about climate change.
A coalition of Madison-area high school students announced Friday that it would join youth activists across the country on March 15 to protest government inaction on climate change. The local iteration of the U.S. Youth Climate Strike will begin at East High School and conclude at the state Capitol.
“Science has consistently proven that we have 11 years to solve the climate crisis or we’ll see irrevocable effects,” said Max Prestigiacomo, state lead for the strike and a Middleton High School senior. “We have two options: We prevent the 1.5 degrees of warming or we let it be. We listen to the science, or we accept ignorance. We either avoid triggering a catastrophic chain reaction beyond human control, or we suffer the consequences. It’s that simple.”
Students said they have already experienced firsthand the impact of climate change. Their schools flooded during heavy rains last fall and were closed during the polar vortex earlier this year.
Young people have made their choices clear, Prestigiacomo said. At the crux of their mission is protecting the future of youths. The coalition is demanding change across industries, including a statewide transition to renewable energy, agricultural reform, environmental reforms in schools, protection of fresh water sources, mining restrictions, and more.
A key part of the coalition’s platform is its intersectional fight for climate justice, said state communications lead and Middleton High School junior Ella Roach. The coalition wants to ensure that marginalized communities are provided resources to cope with the aftermath of natural disasters caused by climate change.
Joanne Martinez, senior and co-lead for Memorial High School, added that the movement must make sure that these marginalized communities are included in discussions about climate change.
“Communities of color, indigenous and low-income communities throughout history have been said [to be] the most brutally controlled by environmental disasters,” said Stephanie Salgado, a senior and co-lead for Memorial. “Too often, those who are most impacted by climate change are left out of the discussions. Those communities are being antagonized for participating in activism and discussion of issues affecting them.”
The coalition also supports the national campaign for the Green New Deal — a policy package proposed by U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) to reduce carbon emissions while stimulating the economy and addressing economic inequality — as well as local organizers and legislators working to draft new policies. Rep. Chris Taylor is one such legislator.
Haidee Chu
State Rep. Chris Taylor: “Adults have failed [children] once again.”
“Adults have failed them once again,” Taylor said at the press conference. “Politicians have refused — not because they can’t, because they won’t — to seriously address the issue of climate change, the issue of conserving our planet for these wonderful students and for future generations… We can act. We need to get the political will to act and get serious about addressing these concerns.”
Taylor added that the issue of climate change is more than just a matter of moral imperative. Wisconsin’s economy — including the agricultural industry and the $20 billion tourism sector — is inextricably linked with having a clean environment, she noted.
Prestigiacomo said that the coalition would continue to plan actions and push state legislation after the strike. Part of that, he added, includes efforts to introduce initiatives already in place in Dane County at the state level; a local group also plans to present a Green New Deal resolution to the Madison Common Council.
In the longrun, the coalition is looking to transition into a nonprofit organization after the strike, said Sophie Guthier, state logistics lead and a Memorial High School senior.
“This is not a one-time thing,” said Isabella Spitznagle, state partnership lead and junior at West High School. “Climate change won’t be fixed after just one strike. This climate strike is to empower youth, to tell them to scream from the mountaintops. If we want change, if we want to save the Earth, we have to do it now.”