{"id":5140,"date":"2019-03-04T07:10:15","date_gmt":"2019-03-03T19:10:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/new-zealand\/?p=5140"},"modified":"2024-07-12T15:07:07","modified_gmt":"2024-07-12T03:07:07","slug":"10-things-youve-always-wanted-to-ask-the-students-skipping-school-to-fight-climate-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/10-things-youve-always-wanted-to-ask-the-students-skipping-school-to-fight-climate-change\/","title":{"rendered":"10 things you\u2019ve always wanted to ask the students skipping school to fight climate change"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cAdults \u2014 if you feel uncomfortable now, you\u2019re going to feel uncomfortable for a while. Because we\u2019re never going to back down.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

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\"Youth<\/p>\n

Youth Climate Strike US co-leader Isra Hirsi. \u00a9 Adam Iverson<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Isra Hirsi just turned 16 years old. To celebrate, she came home from school and spent three hours on conference calls.<\/p>\n

Isra, a student at South High School in Minneapolis, is one of thousands of students around the world planning a massive Youth Climate Strike for March 15. With a few weeks to go, there are already strikes planned for 47 countries and\u00a0almost all 50 states<\/a>. Isra is one of three organizers who are bringing the movement \u2014 inspired by Swedish activist\u00a0Greta Thunberg\u2019s weekly climate strikes<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 to the United States.<\/p>\n

I caught up with Isra to talk about her work as a student organizer and why she\u2019s done waiting for adults to save her generation from the climate crisis.<\/p>\n

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\"Youth<\/p>\n

Youth Climate March in Washington D.C. (July 2018) \u00a9 Katie Nelson \/ Greenpeace<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

You\u2019re not exactly new at this. How did you get started in organizing?<\/b><\/h5>\n

Well, I\u2019ve been going to protests since I was in first grade.<\/p>\n

But I started getting more involved in my freshman year of high school, so last year. I joined my school\u2019s \u201cgreen team\u201d and from there I started organizing on my own. I joined a coalition of youth organizations called\u00a0MN Can\u2019t Wait<\/a>, which is a whole bunch of Minnesota youth organizations, and that\u2019s how I\u2019ve been involved in climate activism.<\/p>\n

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guess who announced the first statewide green new deal?! we did!<\/a><\/p>\n

A post shared by isra \ud83e\udd91<\/a> (@israhirsi) on