DePauw joins global climate strike with Friday march

Students are organizing the DePauw community in support of the worldwide climate strike on Friday, Sept. 20.

The demonstration begins at 11:30 a.m. on Stewart Plaza, in the heart of the DePauw University campus. Following a rally on the plaza, participants will march to the courthouse square in downtown Greencastle.

Upon returning to classes in August, a group of students, faculty and staff met to discuss organizing a local event in solidarity with the global climate strike.

The worldwide action is inspired by the youth-led Fridays For Future school strikes that have galvanized young people across the globe. Students are demanding an end to fossil fuel dependency, massive investment in renewable energy and immediate government action to address the climate crisis.

Addressing U.S. lawmakers in Congressional testimony on Wednesday, 16-year-old Swedish climate justice activist Greta Thunberg summed up young people’s demands, “I want you to listen to the scientists ... and then I want you to take real action.”

The global climate strike sets off a weeklong campaign, organized by youth activists and their allies, to coincide with the UN emergency climate summit in New York City on Sept. 23.

“Everyone should attend the strike,” said Jim Mills, professor of geosciences at DePauw. “Rapid climate change affects us all. Students are facing a lifetime of changing climate that is going to require some very hard decisions on their part to deal with this. This will also impact their children, grandchildren, and so on­ — if we don’t start making changes now.”

On Sept. 27, local organizers plan another march, starting from the Greencastle court house square and returning to the campus of DePauw University.