Students strike again in Olympia to demand action on climate change

For the second time in four months, a youth-led strike urging government leaders to take action on climate change made its voice heard in Olympia.

The high school students skipped school Friday afternoon, and in an event that stretched from the Legislative Building to Heritage Park, they chanted “climate change is not a lie, do not let our planet die,” held signs including “save our planet, phase out fossil fuels,” and demanded action from those in power to stop the climate crisis.

“From learning more about our politicians, I realized that Gov. (Jay) Inslee is not what he claims to be and he’s not the climate hero he claims to be,” said 17-year-old Elyanna Calle, a senior at Timberline High School in Lacey. “He only does what is easy and what people will praise him for. He needs to what is difficult but what needs to be done.”

Reached for comment, Inslee’s office stressed that the governor has consistently worked within the authority of state government to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to the fullest extent possible, and worked with the Legislature to pass carbon pricing and other clean energy policies.

A leader in the Washington Youth Climate Strike, Calle organized the event and worked with Protectors of the Salish Sea, an indigenous-led group which has called on Inslee to declare a climate emergency in the state.

The six demands from the two groups are for state government to:

• Stop the Tacoma liquefied natural gas plant.
• Declare a statewide climate emergency.
• Make the state carbon neutral by 2025.
• Deny all fossil fuel infrastructure and projects.
• Honor treaties with indigenous nations that have sovereign land by centering their leadership on environmental justice.
• Make government decisions only if they are backed by scientific research.

The event began on the steps of the Legislative Building, where high school students from the Olympia area took prominent positions as speakers.

But the crowd was diverse by age. Among them were Lacey residents Mari Stuart and Sally Vogel, who are both in their 80s and veterans of the social justice and environmental movements.

“We’re inspired by the spirit of the young,” said Stuart, who is a member of the local chapter of Grey Resistance Indivisible.

Vogel said she attended the student climate strike in part out of guilt for the size of her carbon footprint from traveling overseas.

But she noted that she’s worked in the environmental movement since the 1970s, when she complained about smog in southern California and was urged to take action.

Those gathered outside the Legislative Building walked to Heritage Park with a police escort, shutting down two lanes of Capitol Way. At the park, a rally was held as a light rain fell and more speeches were delivered.

Calle said she couldn’t estimate the size of the crowd, but said the turnout was considerably smaller than the roughly 2,000 people who attended the climate strike she organized in September.

But Friday’s event was not about numbers, she added.

“No one should be discouraged or embarrassed or have any negative emotion toward a much smaller crowd. The people who are here are the people who are really going to take action in the future and the people who are going to make a difference. Those are the people I want here,” she said.

This story was originally published December 6, 2019 at 3:31 PM.