On March third, a city wide climate strike took place in NYC. The march started in Foley square and continued across the Brooklyn Bridge to Borough Hall.  I and a few other tenth graders participated in this strike, as it was very convenient for any Millennium student to attend. However, very few actually did. The turnout this year was significantly less than last year and in a way it was discouraging. In light of the Willow Project-the Biden administration planning on drilling oil in Alaska that will release 9.2 million metric tons of planet-warming carbon pollution a year,- we hoped there would be a larger number of people than last year. 

When we first got to the march it was difficult to find the actual march, and when we did find them, we were surprised to see the small number of people there. In fact, there was a group of young male students who arrived to “strike”, who seemed to be mocking the chants, along with some of the people there. Though this did not seem to affect many people. Additionally, walking across the bridge, and standing while listening to the speeches was very difficult with our backpacks on. Different groups spoke with multiple speakers who were from Fridays For the Future, the group who organized the speakers. There was also a group from Uganda voicing their issues with the EACOP pipeline that would run from Uganda to Tanzania.

Earth Guardians is a worldwide youth organization dedicated to fighting for environmental and climate justice. We participate in environmental justice protests, fundraisers, and strikes, all with the end goal of creating a cleaner, more environmentally-friendly planet. Along with these demonstrations, we also are in constant contact with politicians, so our proposals can eventually evolve into real policies. This is not a performative organization, led by inexperienced and irresponsible kids. This is a global climate initiative, with our generation at the forefront of this massively important movement surrounding one of the most dire issues of our time. If you have any interest in joining this movement, the Manhattan chapter can be easily accessed through their Instagram (@earthguardiansmanhattan), as we are always eager to have new members.

We are writing about this because as most people know by now, the Willow Project was passed by the Biden administration. This means that the damage we have done to the climate will be irreversible. A petition was going around to attempt to stop it, but sadly not enough people signed. Even though this news is bad we cannot stop trying to change this. The voice of the people still matters and is still relevant. If you care about living, you must act now. Waiting isn’t an option, and if we do there isn’t a future. We took a strike for our lives. We encourage everyone to fight for it.