On Wednesday, students of all ages marched, chanted, and spoke in alignment with 4 million students across the globe to protest worldwide inaction against climate change.
“Climate change is no longer a political issue. It’s about survival,” said march co-organizer and high school senior Dylan Chapell during his opening speech on the front steps of the Haines School.
The speech was followed with a march down Main Street and Third Avenue. The crowd stopped at the borough administration office and listened to student Brennan Palmeri read a speech by Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swedish student who inspired the national movement. The march continued down Second Avenue and the Haines Highway.
A portion of students were on strike all day, sitting outside the main entrance of the school with signs, but the march was the main event attracting more students at 11:20 a.m.
At one point the mass of student marchers followed by community members in support extended from Second to Third Avenues along the Haines Highway, spilling from the large sidewalk into the median line.
Seniors Marirose Evenden and Dylan Chapell organized the strike to stand with the global movement demanding action from communities and governments.
“As a community, as a state, as a nation we can do something to slow climate change and even reverse its effects,” said Evenden.
“We’re not striking against the school, we’re striking against the national and worldwide governments for not taking a stand,” said Chapell.
This mission aligns with the youth-led global climate strike that was reported to be the largest climate protest in history. On Friday, Sept. 20, about 4 million students from more than 150 countries left school to protest government inaction against climate change.
From the beginning, this global movement has been powered by young people. In 2015, students worldwide skipped school on the first day of the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Paris. The movement was further propelled by Thunberg, who also started Fridays for Futures, an international movement encouraging students to skip class every Friday in protest.
Haines students chose not to strike on Friday with the national movement because a large portion of high school students were traveling for a cross-country meet. While students around the world will be striking again next Friday, Sept. 27, Haines students will not strike because a portion of the school will be again traveling for sports.
During the march, students held signs, chanted and talked.
Maddox Rogers, 12, Nolan Wald, 11, and Madi Hart, 11, marched together.
“I really hope everyone is listening,” said Rogers.
Saphire Ordonez held a sign made of a cardboard circle painted like the earth. “The earth is on fire,” she said while pointing to the sign. “It’s sort of smaller because the water is on top of it. The arctic and antarctic are melted away.”
Residents joined the students.
“I’m in support of the kids,” said Shannon Donahue. “Regardless of people’s opinions on the science and the lack of policy implementation around it, people should at least listen to the kids.”
JoJo Goerner claimed the march can send a powerful message. “They vote next. That’s the action that makes the change.”
Evenden and Chapell said that they are not demanding specific action. Instead they hope to raise awareness. “We’re standing up because we see a problem, not because we have the answers,” said Evenden.
“It’s not our job as high schoolers to have all the answers,” said Chapell.
But the march did raise specific suggestions. Senior Dori Getchell gave a closing speech outlining five categories of habits people can change: diet, waste, clothing purchase, driving, and appliance use. Getchell offered specific suggestions including purchasing used clothing, carpooling and unplugging appliances when not in use.
In a school commons on Tuesday afternoon, students told the CVN how they arrived at their decision to participate.
“I was debating going because I have a lot of school work to do,” said high school junior Lydia Andriesen. “But I realized that it’s bigger than one person and the small inconvenience it will cause me is worth it to get one more person out there for the cause.”
“I think for the people who say it’s ineffective and that kids shouldn’t be missing school, they are wrong.” said high school junior Haley Boron. “This is an issue left to our government to tackle. It’s a real problem that’s not about politics. It’s about everyone on the planet.”
Another high school student expressed that striking is not the most efficient way to make a change, as it might be in larger cities.
Residents drinking coffee this morning at the Rusty Compass discussed the students’ efforts.
“Learning to protest and use your political powers at a young age is a good thing,” said Art Woodard. “That’s an important skill that they should learn. It’s healthy in a democratic society.”
Carlos Jimenez said, “I’m in complete support of the kids voicing their opinion.”
Donnie Turner III disagreed with the decision to leave school as an act of protest. “School is important and I don’t think it’s going to be any good to disrupt the school day,” Turner said. “There are more productive ways to make a difference like picking up trash on a Saturday.”
The Haines Borough School District worked towards balancing its obligation to monitor student safety while also enabling them to voice their perspectives, according to district superintendent Roy Getchell. “Student voice is important and it’s not up to us what they are going to voice. We are going to do our best to balance the First Amendment rights with state law, district policy and our duty of care,’ Getchell said. “I’m always hopeful that students will be active and civically engaged in things that are important to them. I’m not going to decide what those things are.”
Any students who left without parental permission received unexcused absences.