SAN DIEGO — San Diego students outside city hall Friday chanted “hey hey, ho, ho climate change has got to go.”
They held up nature-centered signs that read "Resist, build, rise” and “Be fossil-free." The students from San Diego High School said they got an excused absence to participate in the global "climate strikes" ahead of the 26th UN Climate Change Conference.
The young minds' goal was to demand public action on climate change. The climate rallies started in the South Bay with a march from Friendship park to Chula Vista City hall.
One high school junior said, "as youth, we are responsible for the future and the future of our planet.”
At High Tech High Media Arts, senior Natalia Armenta organized the climate strike for her school and then showed up downtown to unite with other students.
“Today we did have people call Governor Newsom, with the Last Chance Alliance, and we also had students sign a petition about the use of oil,” Armenta said.
At San Diego State University, students walked all across campus chanting with signs supporting Mother Nature, saying “our planet, our future!”
The group of students felt their campus has a long way to go to become more sustainable.
“We have a lot of efforts towards it, but we are not making a lot of progress I hear. We have solar on some of our buildings, but we're still using a code generation plant at the back of the facility. We are going to graduate with different careers, but what good are those careers if we do not have a planet left?” said SDSU first-year graduate student Wesley Cooksy.
San Diego State University released a statement saying in part: “SDSU has a demonstrated commitment to sustainability locally and globally as evidenced by its strategic plan priorities and construction activities dedicated to sustainable practices. In April 2017, SDSU approved the Climate Action Plan with both operational carbon neutrality goals and overall carbon neutrality goals and timelines. SDSU has 14 buildings with LEED certification."
The students demonstrating said they want San Diego County to set a goal for net-zero emissions by the year 2030.
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