MONTPELIER – Students around Vermont are poised to join a global climate strike on Friday.
It will kick off a weeklong call to action for students to skip school to march, protest and commit acts of civil disobedience to demand political and civic leaders respond and act to combat climate change.
The school strike for climate movement – also known as Fridays for Future, Youth For Climate and Youth Strike 4 Climate – was sparked by Greta Thunberg, the Swedish student who left school in August last year to protest outside the Swedish parliament. Thunberg, who testified before Congress on Wednesday, has since been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and traveled to America recently by a zero-emissions sail ship.
Schools in Montpelier, Barre, Plainfield, East Montpelier, Duxbury and Randolph are expected to take part in a protest in Montpelier on Friday. They will converge on Montpelier High School for a protest, beginning at 9 a.m. and then march to City Hall, according to organizers.
Lila Markow, 17, a senior at Montpelier High School, is a member of the school’s Earth Action Alliance and Youth Action Alliance. Asked whether students planned any acts of civil disobedience, Markow said she didn’t plan to risk arrest herself, but added, “I know there is some shenanigan planning going on.
“We really want to let everyone know that youth care and that’s it’s our future that we’re looking at. We really do care and we want policymakers to see that. We want to stop the business-as-usual continuing and treat it as an emergency,” she continued. “It’s happening right now.”
Tom Sabo, sustainability coordinator at MHS, said students have been preparing for some time for the climate strike.
“Many students are deeply concerned by what they see as a lack of attention to the issue of climate change,” Sabo said. “They see it as a crisis, and they want the leaders of government and industry to do something about it. ... As a teacher, I encourage students to actively participate and engage in their community and government. So, I am pleased with their initiative and resolve.”
Lena Donofrio, 12, is a seventh-grader at Main Street Middle School, who said she will be taking part in Friday’s protest.
“We’re mostly trying to get more people involved in the global movement, Fridays For Future, and maybe to spread more awareness and get more people involved,” Donofrio said. “So we’re hoping to get a lot of people involved with this march and maybe others in the future.”
Donofrio also noted that students have called for a meaningful curriculum in schools to help students understand how to deal with climate change in the future.
“I think that it’s really important that students address climate change more, because it’s important that kids know not just that there are some gases going into our atmosphere and it will be OK,” she said.
Montpelier Police Chief Anthony Facos issued a statement Wednesday, saying that the city was bracing for disruption to traffic and local businesses from 9 a.m. through the afternoon on Friday. Traffic delays and detours in the downtown may be encountered by motorists, who should seek alternative routes, and VT-Alerts may be issued to warn the public of disruption, he added.
Across Vermont, there will other demonstrations, with a significant protest planned in Burlington on Friday.
In Montpelier, there already have been three student climate change protests that disrupted activities in the city. They included the forced temporary adjournment of the Legislature during a protest in the House on May 16; Extinction Rebellion shutting down traffic on State Street to disrupt a meeting of the Public Utilities Commission that was considering a petition by a Canadian company to buy the public shares of Vermont Gas Systems and Green Mountain Power on July 23; and Uprise Youth Action Camp blocking the State and Main streets intersection on Aug. 3.
For a full list of climate strike actions around the state, visit https://vermontclimatestrike.org/events/list/
stephen.mills @timesargus.com
