Oswego State students held a rally on Friday, Sept. 20 to demand action over what scientists increasingly call a climate crisis.

The rally was part of a worldwide movement started by 16-year-old Swedish activist Greta Thunberg to raise awareness over human-caused climate change ahead of the Sept. 23 United Nations Climate Action Summit, where Thunberg spoke.

The Oswego climate strike started with a march from Sheldon Hall to the lawn outside of Marano Campus Center. The rally was attended by about 100 people and was organized by students Chelsie Scott and Lauren Fitzgerald as an effort to get students and young people, who will most directly face the consequence of climate change, involved and motivated into action.

“I’ve always been into grassroots activism about climate change and since we only have a finite amount of years until we have irreversible damage to this climate, I think it’s really important for our generation now to speak up, talk about climate change because we’re the ones who live with the effects,” Fitzgerald, a political science major and environmental and sustainability minor, said. 

Fitzgerald focused on the environmental impact of large entities like businesses and governments as the major contributors to the climate change, and young people need to unify to confront these groups.

“The people in power right now who make all the decisions, who let the fossil fuels deplete … they’re not gonna be here when all this goes to [s***],” Fitzgerald said. “Right now, they’re interested in short-term profits, and not our livelihoods.”

Scott, an anthropology major, opened the rally by quoting famed 20th century anthropologist Margaret Mead.

“‘Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world, indeed, it is the only thing that ever has,’ and that is exactly what we’re here doing right now,” Scott said. “We’re a small group and we are making our voices heard because our planet needs us.”

Scott called on students to demand action from their government to halt reliance on fossil fuels, to transition to 100% renewable energy by 2030, for the United States government to cease resource extraction affecting Native American land and to pass laws preserving nature.

“We want environmental justice for communities on the frontlines of poverty and pollution, and sanctuary for all migrants. We want to protect and restore 50% of the world’s lands and oceans, and stop all deforestation by 2030,” Scott said. “Last, we want to invest in sustainable agriculture and not agribusiness.”

The rally featured a variety of speakers, from student activists to faculty members to poets and artists, all of which brought their diverse point of view to the topic of youth action in the climate crisis. 

Omar van Reenen, an Oswego student activist and former Student Association president, spoke about growing up in Namibia and how climate change is not a debate there.

“When I was in grade three, my teacher drew on the chalkboard, because you know back then, he drew the Earth. And he drew the word ‘ours’ on the Earth. And he said to us in the class, ‘This is your home. Protect it. Cherish it and nurture it. Most importantly, respect it,’” van Reenen said. “I grew up in a country where we were the first in the world to incorporate protection of the environment into our constitution. We were told from a young age that climate change is real. It’s a fact. It’s science, it’s happening, and we are at fault. We are.”

According to van Reenen, students must recognize the power of their voice to effect change across the world, because history has examples of student outcry changing the world.

“In the civil rights movement, and most recently too, especially personal to my life, I was born free two years after apartheid because young American activists boycotted and protested on their campus. So, Lakers, we find ourselves in another moment where the voices and efforts of the young people, us, are needed more than ever,” van Reenen said. “We should not feel lucky just going to school, surviving it, to come home, and to dream about a future that might not even exist.”

This student involvement was the focus of the next speaker, Oswego State President Deborah Stanley. According to Stanley, the activism she saw at the rally is something in which she has been waiting to see.

“We are on this path, and I am here to listen, to absorb, but I am really here, to get in my gut your energy, your understanding, your perspective,” Stanley said. “You inherit this world. It is yours from this day forward, it belongs to you. Your generation and the generations that come after you. We need you, we have been waiting for you. We need your voice.”

Importantly, Stanley said students have to follow through with their momentum and not to let this rally be the end, because time is running out.

“This is important work, it will not go away when you leave here today. You must become the ‘action’ generation. You must become the generation that doesn’t leave it on the quad when the event is over,” Stanley said. “We know that unless we start, well, unless we started 10 years ago, but we must start today. And we must move forward from this day forward. And your campus is with you.”

Oswego students were enthusiastic at the event, carrying cardboard signs with environmental activist messages such as “THE OCEANS R Rising & SO ARE WE” and “There is no Plan(et) B.”

“I came out because I really love the cause and I like to hear more ideas about how I can live more sustainably in my day-to-day life,” said Grace Merrill, a junior Human Development major who attended the rally.

Julia Krurnow, a sophomore in public relations said she attended the rally because climate change is about more than just science, but injustice.

“I don’t know much about science, I’m not a science person, but I love hearing about the human rights aspects of this and all the social issues that this comes with,” Krurnow said.

For Rhiannon Bonawitz, an Oswego State sophomore at the rally, supporting the environment is a passion for her.

“I’m an environmental science major, I took [the] geology track too. It’s always been something I’ve been really interested in and really passionate about. It’s what I want to do with my life, it’s why I’m here. It needs to change,” Bonawitz said. “You have to do something. You can share memes about the Amazon rainforest but that’s not helping, this is helping. Educating people is helping.”

Photo by Nicole Hube | The Oswegonian