Thousands of NYC Kids Ditch School for Climate Strike September 20

Thousands of New York City kids left school on Friday, Sept. 20–excused by the DOE–and headed down to Foley Square, marching through the streets to advocate for action in the wake of destructive climate change as part of a global climate strike that occurred in cities throughout the world. NYMetroParents was on the scene of the strike. Prior to the event, youth organizer Olivia Wohlgemuth shared her thoughts on why she has become an activist, youth organizers’ plans after the strike, and what adults can learn from young activists.

Olivia first got involved with the movement last spring when she heard a global climate strike would be happening on March 15, 2019. She was raised to be very environmentally conscious, she said, and when she saw direct action taking place before the strike knew she wanted to be further involved with the movement and contribute to the action. She organized a walkout at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, and on March 15, almost 1,000 students walked out of LaGuardia with her to join the strike. LaGuardia had a population of about 2,700 students at the time.

“It was really amazing,” Olivia said. “It made me want to organize more in the future and keep contributing to this movement.”

This past summer, youth activists in NYC were communicating mainly through social media and group messages–until the New York Society for Ethical Culture invited the kids to meet on Monday afternoons in Ethical NYC’s headquarters right after July 4.

“It made perfect sense that when this came to my attention, that the youngsters were organizing this massive undertaking, that we needed to offer them space,” said Monica Weiss, co-chair of Ethical NYC's Environmental Stewardship Committee. “And we did.”

The kids began meeting on Monday afternoons and soon were also meeting on Wednesday evenings for open planning, inviting all youth who wanted to get involved with the movement to join the conversation. Olivia said that having a physical meeting space facilitated communication and planning. After the strike, the youth activists plan to continue open meetings and organize smaller but equally effective events better suited to kids.

“We want to plan more ways to get involved beyond striking on Fridays, because most students don’t have the access or the ability to strike on Fridays,” she said. “So we want to create more opportunities for students to participate in that don’t involve missing school every week.”