Willie and I were among the 10,000 people (maybe more) who took part in the Global Climate Strike protest on Friday, September 20 in Boston. An estimated 4 million participated world wide. All this was inspired by a schoolgirl, Greta Thunberg, who, at age fifteen, was so frustrated that grown-ups weren’t doing enough to combat climate change, that she sat down in front of the Swedish Parliament with her now famous sign, School Strike for Climate, and started a global student movement, Fridays for Future.
We almost didn’t mind the three Green Line trains, packed to the gills, that didn’t even stop at Brookline Village where we had left the car. It was exhilarating to be on the platform with a crowd of middle and high-schoolers all headed to City Hall Plaza proudly carrying their hand-made signs. One girl asked me if she could take a picture of my sign to show her Latin teacher (on it I had explained the Latin origin and meaning of the word “Science”).
If listening to speeches (one by a former student of mine), and marching in huge numbers to the State House isn’t your thing, there are other ways to make your voice heard if you feel passionately that we need to be doing more to slow down climate change. Consider a contribution to such organizations as 350.org (that’s 350 parts per million of carbon in the atmosphere, deemed a “safe” level; we are currently over 400 parts per million), the Sierra Club, the Environmental Defense Fund or Interfaith Power and Light, to name just a few. Or you could check out Transition Framingham or the MetroWest “Node” of 350.org which meets monthly in Framingham and surrounding communities.
Jenny Allen for the Green Team