Rhode Island Students Participate in Youth Climate Strike

By: Tim Studebaker

Facebook: @TStudebakerABC6

Twitter: @TStudebakerABC6

Email: tstudebaker@abc6.com

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) – Thousands of students in more than a hundred countries around the world skipped school Friday, hoping to spark action on climate change.  Here in Rhode Island, students joined that worldwide movement, gathering at the State House to let their voices be heard.

North Kingstown High School student Joelye Land organized the local rally.  Land says, “We really need the government to take action on climate change that’s actually going to make a difference.  We need it to be fast and happen now.”

The students protested in front of the State House on Friday morning.

Land says, “As under 18 year olds, we really don’t have a vote.  So, one of the greatest ways for us to make our voice heard is through strikes and protests and activism.”

This comes on the heels of a new UN report released Wednesday, warning that the global environment is degrading at a pace that could endanger not just human health, but what it calls the “ecological foundations of society.”

Not everyone is on board, though.  US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin spoke about the Green New Deal in front of the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday.

Montana Senator Steve Daines asks, “Could you give a short overview of how these radical proposals would disrupt and damage our economy?”

Mnuchin says, “I don’t think they’d disrupt or damage. I think they destroy so I don’t know how they could possibly be financed without having the economy just ground to an absolute halt.”

Protestors, on the other hand, say the problem is real and needs to be dealt with.

Land says, “If you don’t think it’s going to affect you, it definitely will.  That’s the main issue.”

© WLNE-TV / ABC6 2019