Youth in Davis organizes city-wide climate strike
High-school students, their families and the community at large organized a climate strike in Davis on Sept. 20 as part of a wider range of global climate strikes which started to gain traction once Greta Thunberg, a young climate activist, initiated a call to action to combat climate change. The strike in Davis began at the public library and the group then headed to Central Park.
Amber Crenna-Armstrong, a senior at Davis High School, was inspired by Thunberg to organize this climate strike.
“I learned about the strikes going on from Greta Thunberg’s Instagram page and thought it was a perfect opportunity for Davis to have a strike of its own,” Crenna-Armstrong said. “My mom and I did a lot of outreach to organize the strike and were able to meet a lot of good people. I was the main youth leader and organizer for the strike, and I’m really grateful and proud of those who participated.”
The strike also featured educational services to help spread information about climate change and green living, such as promoting ways that individuals can change their lifestyle to help the environment through means of biking to school or work. The strike lasted until 2 p.m. and ended with a speech by Crenna-Armstrong regarding the importance of taking action against climate change.
“We had a booth for voter registration,” Crenna-Armstrong said. “We also had food and a booth for people to take a personal pledge to help combat climate change.”
From Central Park, the strikers continued on to Davis Unified School District and then to Davis Town Hall, where the participants presented a letter to city leaders, according to The Davis Vanguard.
“The youth of Davis, following the lead of people all over the world, are declaring that we have a climate emergency on our hands,” the letter read. “Our precious planet is dying and everyone is being affected by it. We are writing this letter to you, the leaders of our community, demanding that you lead the change.”
The Sept. 20 climate strike inspired another, separate strike which occurred at the UC Davis campus on Sept. 27.
“I’ve been an environmentalist all of my life and heard about the climate strike that happened on Sept. 20, but I was out of town at the time so I wanted to organize one for UC Davis,” said Megan Phelps, a third-year environmental science and management major and an organizer of the UC Davis strike.
Crenna-Armstrong discussed her reasoning for organizing the strike, saying she thinks climate change is a dire situation and a concern for future generations.
“I really care deeply about other people and I also want myself, my children and my grandchildren to have a future,” Crenna-Armstrong said. “That is why we are going to continue striking every Friday. We want to utilize the power of the strike and show that this is not the end but only the beginning.”
The Sept. 20 climate strike in Davis was meant to promote awareness, contributing to larger discourse surrounding climate change, according to the participants’ letter.
“Davis is a very environmentally aware city, and we are grateful for that,” the letter read. “However, we are not talking enough about these issues in school and some kids don’t even know what’s going on in our world. Not enough is getting done in our country and our world about these catastrophes and so we need cities, districts, states and countries to start doing more to lead the change.”
Written by: Taylor Martinez — city@theaggie.org
