San Francisco Students Protest for Climate Action

Posted on by Gabe Castro-Root
Photo by Gabe Castro-Root

On Friday, December 6th, San Francisco students cut class to protest inaction on climate change for the second time in four months. The school strike, which was significantly smaller than the widely publicized September 20th Youth Climate Strike, began outside the downtown San Francisco headquarters of Blackrock, Inc. Blackrock is the world’s largest investor in coal companies and a major investor in companies driving the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest. 

Protesters marched through downtown San Francisco.
Photo by Gabe Castro-Root
Photo by Gabe Castro-Root

Protesters, led by teenage activists from the environmental groups Youth Vs. Apocalypse, Extinction Rebellion and the Sunrise Movement, marched to Senator Dianne Feinstein’s office, where they demanded that she support the Green New Deal. 

Photo by Gabe Castro-Root
Elementary school students took a turn leading the march.
Photo by Gabe Castro-Root

Speakers at the rally included Isha Clarke, age 16, one of the founders of Youth Vs. Apocalypse, and Varshini Prakash, the founder and executive director of the Sunrise Movement. 

As at the September 20th strike, protesters linked environmental action to other social and political issues, a concept they call “climate justice.” 

Varshini Prakash, the founder and executive director of the Sunrise Movement, spoke at the rally outside Blackrock, Inc.
Photo by Gabe Castro-Root

“When we live in a society with justice and equity, then we live in a society where we can have sustainability,” Clarke told the crowd. 

Climate strikes took place at the same time across the United States, while countries around the world protested the week before, on Friday, November 29th.

Strike organizers, from right: Henry Shane, Jonathan Palash-Mizner, Caroline Choi and Baxter Bhansali.
Photo by Gabe Castro-Root
Gabe Castro-Root
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    • Gabe Castro-Root

      Gabe Castro-Root is the co-Editor-in-Chief of the Paper Tiger. He is a senior at LWHS and was Photo Editor as a junior, his first year on the staff. You can often find him running or photographing the night sky.

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    Gabe Castro-Root

    Gabe Castro-Root is the co-Editor-in-Chief of the Paper Tiger. He is a senior at LWHS and was Photo Editor as a junior, his first year on the staff. You can often find him running or photographing the night sky.