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Plattsburgh High School And College Students Join Global Climate Strike

High school and college students were joined by local residents outside the SUNY Plattsburgh student center to participate in the Global Climate Strike.
At 10 a.m. Friday, students at Plattsburgh High School were instructed to gather on the front lawn of the school.   “At this time room numbers 200 to 229 should report to the parking loop outside.”

The students planted a sugar maple tree in honor of Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg, who inspired the Global Climate Strike.  High school Green Team member and senior Roisin Creedon-Carey read “The Lorax” by Dr. Seuss because she felt it reflects the situation.  “Plant a Truffula now. Treat it with care. Give it clean water and feed it fresh air. Grow a forest. Protect it from axes that hack. Then the Lorax and all of his friends may come back. I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees. Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's just not."

Green Team students were then joined by a contingent of about 15 students from Beekmantown Central to march to the plaza in front of SUNY Plattsburgh’s student center.

When they arrived they were met by a group of Plattsburgh residents who had marched from Trinity Park on the opposite side of the city. "Oh my gosh there’s such a big turn out.”

Everyone had a chance to step up and express their concerns about the climate crisis.  “All around the world there are young people marching and standing together in support of this movement fighting for our planet. This is a fight for our lives so we are going to stand here today and we are going to show our support.”
“Hi. People tell us that we’re too young. We’re too young to understand, that we’re too young to take action, that we’re too young to do anything. Well yes I am too young. I am too young to be afraid. I am too young to have to talk to my friends across the world and have them say that there’s smog and they can’t go outside without using air masks. I am too young to be scared.”

Environmental Studies senior and event co-organizer Charles Olsen told the crowd that global leaders have known about the threat of climate change for decades yet failed to act.  "We know thanks to the work of many scientists that we only have 12 years to get our --- together and avoid the worst case scenario. Our generation, all of us, we are going to be the first to feel the worst impacts of the changes that we have already done to our climate. The Amazon is burning. Deserts are growing. Water supplies are dwindling and the ice is melting.  The climate crisis is here today. The science is not debatable. This is the fight of our lives, the fight for our lives, the fight for the lives of all those who could come after us, the fight for life on Earth.”

The Global Climate Strike is occurring just prior to the United Nations Climate Action Summit scheduled to take place on Monday.  Actions occurred across the country and region including numerous sites in northern New York and Vermont.
 

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