Brooklyn students joined worldwide strikes on Friday to protest inaction on climate change. Some skipped school to rally on the steps at Brooklyn Borough Hall, where adults passing by mostly applauded their message.
The protests were organized as part of the Youth Climate Strike. Strikes were planned in more than 100 different countries.
Farzana Pritte, a high school student at the Boerum Hill School for International Studies, said that she and her friends walked out of school after asking permission from their principal “to come out here so we can fight for climate change.”
“It’s a world-wide event,” Pritte said. “It started in Sweden and now everyone is inspired. Now there’s various events happening all around the world to fight climate change.”
“I’m concerned because we are damaging the earth by so many ways,” she said, adding that dangerous chemicals are degrading the ozone layer. “It damages our skin because ultraviolet radiation is affecting us. It’s affecting our animals.”
Her friend Kiera Matos said, “We’re here to save the earth from climate change, because people are ruining the earth. It only takes a few seconds to help the earth. If you see somebody littering or [causing] pollution, try to warn them and try to help the environment any way you can.”
Students from Saint Ann’s School also joined to protest, holding signs reading, “Save the World,” and “I Fight for What I Stand On.”
The Youth Climate Strike’s mission statement states in part, “We, the youth of America, are striking because decades of inaction has left us with just 11 years to change the trajectory of the worst effects of climate change, according to the Oct 2018 UN IPCC Report. We are striking because our world leaders have yet to acknowledge, prioritize, or properly address our climate crisis.”
