CCWA Attends the Columbus Climate Strike
“The moment we decide to fulfill something, we can do anything. And I’m sure that the moment we start behaving as if we were in an emergency, we can avoid climate and ecological catastrophe.”
- Greta Thunberg, speaking to members of the UK Parliament, April 2019
Inspired by the school climate strikes of activists like Greta Thunberg, millions from across the world skipped school, left their jobs, and donated their Friday afternoons to unite in a record-breaking moment of the climate movement. I’m proud to say that our club was a part of that coalition.
On Friday, September 20, several members of CCWA joined hundreds of children and adults alike in downtown Columbus to protest the political inaction surrounding the global climate crisis. The strike was one of thousands occurring that Friday as a part of the Global Week for Future movement preceding the UN Climate Action Summit in New York City.
Columbus’ own Friday for Future kicked off at noon with a rally in front of the Ohio Statehouse. Student leaders, community organizers, and even local musicians were invited to the steps of the state capitol building to give voice to the goals of the protest. Local leaders of the Sunrise Movement, proponents of the Green New Deal, and advocates for indigenous rights were among those speakers.
Morgan Harper, a Congressional candidate running to unseat incumbent Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) as the representative for the 3rd Congressional District, also made a noteworthy presence at the rally. Harper gave a rousing speech re-emphasizing support for the Green New Deal and signed a promise to refuse donations from the fossil fuel industry, imploring those in attendance to fulfill one earnest request— a request to be applied to all politicians making bold claims for change: “Hold me accountable.”
As different speakers filed in and out from behind the podium, the crowd grew in both volume and size, amassing what appeared to be nearly a thousand poster-wielding strikers on the front lawn of Ohio’s legislators.
Around 1 pm, the crowd began to shift from the steps of the Statehouse to the streets of downtown Columbus. The crowd marched through traffic at different intersections of downtown and were met with both the disdainful glances and supportive honks of passing drivers.
Through the sweltering afternoon heat, the crowd filed past the cars and towards the offices of Senators Rob Portman and Sherrod Brown. There, the people made their presence known with chants of “Earth is dying / Stop denying” and “When our planet is under attack / What do we do? / Stand up fight back.”
And fight back, we did… for a while.
Soon after making the beeline to Senator Brown’s office, the crowd thinned out. Strikers dropped their signs, got into their cars, and went back to their daily lives. By just 3 pm, the crowd had almost completely dispersed. Even most of our club members were on the COTA back to campus by then.
And politics, too, continued as usual. There is still no consensus for the Green New Deal in Congress. Neither Senator Portman nor Senator Brown have started advocating for ground-breaking environmental reforms. Even the UN Summit in New York failed to produce a policy framework that can limit global carbon emissions.
Perhaps that Friday afternoon will not go down in our history books as ‘the moment we stopped climate change.’ Maybe our crowd wasn’t big enough. Maybe we didn’t chant loud enough. Maybe we’re not behaving like climate change really is an emergency.
Nevertheless, we must continue to try. While the Columbus Climate Strike itself did not dramatically reform global politics, it may just be a part of a greater movement that can.
The Global Week for Future is estimated to have been the largest climate strike movement to date. If we continue to stand up and fight back for its cause, it can become the beginning of a global movement to enact real solutions that mitigate climate change.
To have participated in what I hope is the first of many moments in this movement was just as much an honor as it was a duty for our organization.
- Lizzy Roka, Executive Secretary
