Some of Whidbey’s young people are worried about how their futures will look on a warming planet with diminishing resources.
Students from across the island joined youth around the world on Friday in demanding political action to address climate change. Adult members of the community joined to show their support as hundreds gathered in Freeland and Coupeville, but it was younger generations who led the charge, inspired by 16-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunburg.
“We have the power now to really get other people involved,” said Ella Langrock, 17, of Oak Harbor.
Langrock stood at the corner of Main Street and State Highway 20 in Coupeville Friday afternoon. The day was marked by similar events worldwide that an estimated four million people attended in more than 100 countries, according to the New York Times.
In Coupeville, the high school girls soccer team requested a late start for practice so that players could join the approximately 200 people who stood on all four corners of the intersection and on the overpass.
Langrock chanted with a group of fellow OHHS Liberty Club members with a megaphone and signs that read, “The water is rising so are we,” “Time is running out” and “Keep the [Earth] clean, it’s not Uranus.”
They said if such a wide range of ages and demographics could gather and acknowledge the issue, then so should the heads of the country’s presidential administration.
Coupeville’s event wasn’t organized by students and youth, but it was organized for them.
Gary Piazzon, his wife Dianne Deseck-Piazzon and the group Indivisible Whidbey put together Coupeville’s contribution to the global event.
Approximately 200 people gathered Friday on each corner of the intersection of Main Street and State Highway 20 in Coupeville to join the global protest to encourage policymakers to take action regarding climate change. Photo by Laura Guido/Whidbey News-Times
“We’re here really supporting the young people in their efforts to further open the minds and hearts of the American people,” Piazzon said.
Earlier that day, about 150 gathered in Freeland to encourage financial institutions to divest from the fossil fuel industry.
“Our major concern is that if we don’t do something now, then we won’t be able to in the future,” said Annie Philp, a 10th grader at South Whidbey High School who helped organized Freeland’s event, which took place from 11:30 a.m. to about 2 p.m.
She and fellow Social Justice Club Co-president Maggie Nattress led the large crowd in a march from Wells Fargo to Chase Bank to send a message regarding two of the largest contributors to the fossil fuel industry, according to a report by Rainforest Action Network and five other environmental groups.
The students discussed JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo and other top banks’ billion-dollar investments into fossil fuel expansion. One of the attendees later announced she’d closed her account with one of the companies.
“Fossil fuel can’t be our future,” Philp said.
“If we want to continue living on this planet,” Nattress added.
Last week’s events aren’t the end.
Philp and Nattress are following Thunberg’s lead and hoping to protest each week in what’s now called Fridays for the Future.
The students are hoping to inspire their peers into action as well as encourage government leaders at all levels to address the issue.
“This is what democracy looks like,” Philp said.
