‘Our planet, our future’

Roughly 200 USD students participate in march for climate action

Mikaela Foehr / Asst. News Editor / The USD Vista

As the noon Immaculata bells chimed on Friday, Sept. 20, students, teachers, and community members gathered to demand climate action. Chants of “Our planet, our future” filled the air alongside waving signs calling on people to realize that “There is no planet B.” The University of San Diego’s Climate Walkout was organized primarily by a committee of graduate students from the School of Leadership and Education Sciences (SOLES), working closely with members of the undergraduate Be Blue Go Green club and the Department of Environmental and Ocean Sciences. Junior Environmental Studies major Gianna Peterson was the only undergraduate student who worked on the committee. The strike lasted about 90 minutes, featuring music, snacks, student speakers, and organized chants. Event organizers initially planned to hold it on the Colachis Plaza lawn, but at the last minute they elected to remain on the sidewalk to keep the event accessible to demonstrators who have wheelchairs or difficulty walking on uneven ground. Organizers deliberately planned the strike to conflict with class time, attempting to illustrate the importance of taking climate action. For some students, like junior Environmental Studies major Emily Pipkin, the choice to walk out of class was easy. “(The Environmental Studies professors) were very supportive,” Pipkin said. “A couple teachers out here have even brought their classes out and most of my professors have given us the green light to participate.” To others, the decision of whether to walk out was a more difficult choice. Sophomore Cassidy Bates illustrated this dilemma. “I hesitate skipping class because I don’t want to miss out on the lesson, but I know that this is definitely more important than one class,” Bates said. In all, the USD walkout attracted roughly 200 protestors, with more pausing to listen to speeches or sign the circulating petition — a big turnout for a campus that rarely sees large displays of student activism. This event was one of hundreds happening around the world that occured over the course of the day. Over 150 countries participated in the protest, leading millions of people to walk out of school and work, and making this one of the largest youth-led protests in history, according to The Washington Post. The worldwide protests were planned three days ahead of the United Nations’ Climate Action Summit, held on Sept. 23, to send a message to the representatives that the global citizenship recognizes the severity of this issue. This sentiment was echoed on USD’s campus as well during the walkout. Over the course of the protest, a few pre-selected students spoke on the issue of climate change. Although each one presented a different aspect of the issue, they all shared a common thread: saving our planet is going to take cooperation. Nat Yee, a junior from Hawai’i, invited those gathered to “malama honua” with him. He explained these words as a Hawaiian phrase that asks people to care for their natural home. Yee connected the phrase to USD by requesting the crowd to join him “in taking care of our island planet, since there is nowhere else for us to go.” Jacob Plannell, a sophomore from Sweden, commented on the power of the Climate Action movement. “Not only does this movement put pressure on decision makers to act, but it also puts pressure on all people to make this the norm,” Plannell said. The pressure that Plannell spoke to could be seen through the campus community members who passed by the protest. Many people stopped, at least for a short time, to listen to the speakers, sign the petition, or add their reason for caring about climate change to a sidewalk chalk mural, even if they were headed to one of their classes. The small speeches culminated in the reading of a letter addressed to USD President James T. Harris III, D.Ed., who was not in attendance. The letter, read passionately by senior Davis Launava, outlined aspects of the university’s “Care For Our Common Home” initiative that some students weren’t satisfied with. It also listed demands for what they wanted to see from the school’s administration going forward, in respect to their sustainability plans. After the letter reading, Gianna Petersen, one of the event leaders, acknowledged the fact that the letter was written before a climate action-related email from Harris was sent out. She also emphasized that the letter, although strongly worded, “is intended to inspire community, not animosity.” In the email, Harris listed some achievements of the university in relation to the 2016 Climate Action Plan, also naming Michel Bourdrias, Ph.D., current chair of the Department of Environmental and Ocean Sciences, as the Sustainability Task Force’s chair. Petersen noted that the achievements Harris listed, such as the fact that USD decreased its greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 20 percent over the last 10 years, are worth feeling pride over. However, she also believes that the USD community shouldn’t stop there. She asked those gathered to not be afraid to ask for more because she believes the current plans in place aren’t enough. Petersen, the sole undergraduate orchestrator of the walkout, took the last moments of the event to address the crowd as a whole once more to describe the global scale of this issue. “(Climate change) is a problem that transcends borders, both physically and socially constructed,” Petersen said. “I call on you to continue on this path of action until our goals at this university, and until our goals as a planet, are met.” The Climate Walkouts, both at USD and across the globe, were designed as a way to demand action on an issue that many believe is overlooked. With 165 signatures and counting attached to the bottom of the student letter to President Harris, it is clear that a portion of the USD student body is standing with them.