On Friday, March 15, 2019, hundreds of thousands of students walked out of their classrooms for a global climate strike, in hopes of awakening the minds of politicians and tackling the escalating ecological crisis head on. Students in Europe sparked this movement and have inspired people globally to do the same. Although our town of Mendocino is small, we believe our actions can make a big difference. The climate is changing, and so is our future. This local strike was organized by the Fort Bragg High School Liberal Club. Everyone met at Town Hall and cheered each other on until making our way over to Bainbridge park, where several local community members gave speeches. Doug Nunn, Rabbi Margaret Holub and Congressman Jared Huffman’s field representative Sheba Brown gave inspiring speeches as everyone circled around and listened. For this article I wanted to interview some students and teachers about their thoughts and beliefs on climate change. I wanted to dig a little deeper and ask why they went to the strike and how they think we as individuals can start making a change.

The school of Mendocino was first inspired to take action by going to this march after some students from the Fort Bragg High School liberal club suggested the whole community go. I went ahead and asked a very involved student, Judah Millen, how the Fort Bragg High school was first inspired to even make the strike a possibility. He started off saying the club had decided at the beginning of this 2019 to make fighting climate change a priority for the remainder of the school year. “A member of the club, Lilli Hadik-Barkoczy, who is engaged with the Sunrise Movement and Fridays for Future, brought forth the idea of organizing a local youth climate strike. We decided that this would be an excellent way to engage the community, raise awareness of climate change, and build connections for future activism and actions surrounding climate change.” This was the start of it all in our small town.

The people I chose to interview included the head teacher of the Community High School, Derek Hutchinson; Emily Madden, a senior up at the High School; Miciella Bishop, a freshman at the Community School; and Kamala Lance, the Administrative Assistant, also known as the mom of the Community School. I first started by asking everyone what their thoughts were on climate change

Everyone overall had very similar views, but brought different aspects to the table. The first person I interviewed was Derek Hutchinson. Derek’s response was simple and direct: “Climate change is the most pressing issue facing mankind today and the youth are the answer.” He went on to add that climate change  needs to be more of a priority for the governments around the world. He wrapped up by stating that climate change is a global problem that has many solutions, but action is needed now and needed fast. The next person I interviewed was Emily Madden, a senior up at the High School. Emily’s thoughts on climate change are that it is a very real and important issue that we have caused on our time on this earth. “People who are in denial about this. [They] need to open their eyes and be a part of the solution.” Kamala Lance says, “It should be most important news piece every single day because complacency will not save our planet.” Lastly, Miciella Bishop says, “People need to pay more attention to climate change, and it’s not acknowledged enough.” Everyone all had very insightful things to say and take climate change very seriously, as should everyone else in the world!

The next question I asked everyone was, why did you choose to go to the strike? Derek said he decided to go to the strike to show support to coastal students in their effort to affect climate change. Emily went because she  wanted to be a part of a bigger movement and also show support. Kamala went to the strike because “in order to make a change you have to take action.” She also believes in supporting our youth in that action, that it’s one of the most powerful things she can do. Lastly, Miciella chose to go to the strike because “youth needs to be empowered, and we have to be the ones to fix everything when people ruin it, and in 12 years we’re going to be fucked if we don’t make a change.” It was amazing to see how motivated everyone was to show their support.

My last question: How can we as individuals make a change, and on a bigger scale, what needs to happen if we want mother earth to stay alive and well? Derek started us off by saying, “Individuals can do every simple thing from turning lights off to being more political, telling politicians what they think and voting.” He followed by saying he thinks we should start by having an energy policy that redirects U.S. resources to energy production that both reduces and boosts our economy. He wrapped it up by saying, “The U.S. should be a leader in non co2 producing energy and technologies.” Derek thinks, on a bigger scale, the government needs to stop generating our power from non reusable resources and make a social and economic change. When Emily was faced with this question she was very quick to respond. “We need to take immediate action, and this is an important issue that shouldn’t just be brushed off. Doing your part in small term is important, but it’s gotten to a level of severity where the most important thing we can do now is vote for our leaders, who can take action on a bigger scale.” She gave an example of acting on a bigger scale, which would be passing environmentalist laws. Kamala’s response to this statement was that we need to awaken the minds of the people who don’t believe their part in all of this makes an impact. So many people have the mindset of, well my miniscule part in all of this won’t make a difference, but it will. Kamala believes we need to start at ground level and empower people to believe in their interchange maker, make them realize every little thing matters. She then went on to add and finish with “People in positions of power need to recognize their influence and prioritize taking action.” Miciella was the last person I asked this question to and her response said it all, plain and simple. “People need to pay more attention to climate change, and its not acknowledged enough. Switching over to greener energy, solar panels, minimizing consumption of animal products.  The Government needs to reduce fossil fuels and change state regulations and stop drilling for oil.”

Hearing everyone’s responses was so interesting because they all had really important things to say. We need to listen to what they are saying and start taking some action! I hope by reading this article you felt inspired in your own home to start making a change or help inspire others to. It’s so crucial we pay attention to this issue since we are being warned by the earth itself and must start doing everything we can to save it.