On September 24, youth gathered globally to protest the lack of political action against climate change. At the strike in San Francisco, the focus was “Stop Line 3”. Line 3 is an oil pipeline that runs through Alberta, Canada to Lake Erie in Michigan. This oil pipe would run through Anishinaabe Native American lands, destroying the local wetland ecosystem and disrupting sacred areas that tribes have used for centuries.
In the morning, the youth gathered at the Embarcadero Plaza in San Francisco, for the strike held by youth leaders from Youth vs. Apocalypse and our own BAYCS. We started with Points of Unity— the guiding morals and beliefs that youth organizers from YvA lead by. Following the Points of Unity, YvA hosted three speakers and led some chants. On the 1.5 mile route we stopped at three locations. First, we went to Diane Feinstein‘s office and had a sit-in. Diane Feinstein is the senator of California and recently hasn't met the demands and is compromising with other politicians on bills affecting our future. Our second location, the federal building, in which many high ranking political officers have offices, including Nancy Pelosi. Nancy Pelosi is the Speaker of the House, meaning she has a lot of political power to set the schedule for the House of Representatives. Despite this power, she hasn’t been as receptive to our demands as our future needs. At the federal building we had a die-in, meaning we all lay down and pretended to be dead to represent what our future would look like if politicians don’t take action soon. Our third and final stop, City Hall, is where a lot of local San Francisco legislation occurs.
At city hall, three more youth speakers including Amelia and Alyssa from BAYCS
spoke on what they did not learn about climate change in school and how to turn our knowledge of climate change into political action, respectively. During the closing ceremony in front of City Hall, YvA related the Haitian immigrants to the climate movement and stressed the interconnectedness of the justices. Climate justice is racial justice, gender justice -- it’s intersectional.
Read some quotes from our BAYCS team members about their thoughts on the strike.
"It was so exciting to be back out there again after two years; I'd forgotten the king of energy that you feel being around all these people out there at the same time for the same thing."
- Oona, 12th grade
"Seeing so many other students stand up for our climate and march with us was an exhilarating feeling. All the speeches and chants we heard were si inspiring and empowering."
-Emily, 11th grade
"Being with other like-minded, powerful, and passionate youth was a reminder of what we are in this fight for. We're fighting for our future, for each other -- and that gives me hope."
-Alyssa, 11th grade
Watch a one minute video montage with clips throughout the day!