Taking Action

The Climate Strike in New York City was an ideal opportunity for students to put this year’s School theme, Taking Care, into action. Led by a diverse coalition of youth-led and adult-led organizations, September 20 was an intergenerational day of striking that launched an entire week of climate action across the world.

Students were inspired by trailblazing youth climate activist, Greta Thunberg, a Swedish student who, in 2018, began a school strike for the climate outside the Swedish Parliament. Her weekly Friday strike for the climate has since spread all over the world and formed a movement, Fridays For Future, through which many other young people have been adding their voices to the charge: STOP STEALING OUR FUTURES! Days before, students congregated in the Library to crafted their own sign before creating an additional 40 signs to be handed out at the strike. More than 100 Middle and Upper School Friends students convened in Foley Square and marched to Battery Park for the rally and speeches from climate activists.

To honor the strike, Grade 4 students discussed climate change and globe warming and it's impact on human societies. The created signs and conducted their own silent protest march through Hunter Hall.

Students also attended the Cooper Union’s Youth Climate Activism Roundtable that included youth activists from organizations such as Zero Hour and Fridays for Future NYC. The roundtable panel discussed the impact that climate change has had on their lives and how they became youth leaders in the Climate Movement.

Other students volunteered in Broad Channel, Queens on behalf of The International Coastal Cleanup. Founded by Ocean Conservancy more than 30 years ago, the organization rallies volunteers from states and territories throughout the U.S. and more than 100 countries to come together around the common goal of collecting and documenting the trash littering their coastlines.