{"id":1183,"date":"2019-02-28T17:07:04","date_gmt":"2019-02-28T09:07:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/master.k8s.p4.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/?p=1183"},"modified":"2025-03-24T15:36:25","modified_gmt":"2025-03-24T07:36:25","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\/malaysia\/story\/1183\/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 Climate Strike US co-leader Isra Hirsi. \u00a9 Adam Iverson<\/p><\/div>\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

\"Youth

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

You\u2019re not exactly new at this. How did you get started in organizing?<\/b><\/h4>\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

https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/BtzfoGOhYvI\/?utm_source=ig_embed<\/p>\n

Was there a moment when you realized that environmental activism was something you wanted to be a part of?<\/b><\/h4>\n

The\u00a0crisis in Flint, Michigan<\/a>\u00a0in 2014 flipped the switch for me. I remember being in middle school seeing on TV that kids were getting lead poisoning not that far away from me, in communities that looked like mine. I just thought it was horrible.<\/p>\n

Now here we have the\u00a0Line 3 pipeline<\/a>, and I\u2019ve been doing a lot of Line 3 work. All of these things are happening right around me so I know I can do something about it.<\/p>\n

How did you get involved in the student strike movement?<\/b><\/h4>\n

The idea to bring the movement to the United States came from\u00a0Haven Coleman<\/a>. I got involved because Haven DM\u2019ed me on\u00a0Instagram<\/a>\u00a0and told me she was organizing this and wanted me to organize my state. I was like, \u201cHey is anyone actually helping you do this nationally?\u201d and she said no. So I was like, \u201ccool, I\u2019ll help you!\u201d<\/p>\n

Now there\u2019s Haven from Denver,\u00a0Alexandria Villasenor<\/a> from New York City, and me co-leading the national strike.<\/p>\n

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It's coming to America.
March 15th.
@climatestrikeUS #ClimateStrike<\/a>#ActOnClimate<\/a> #ClimateEmergency<\/a>
You haven't seen anything yet. https:\/\/t.co\/67oyGGBGdA<\/a><\/p>\n

— Alexandria Villase\u00f1or (@AlexandriaV2005) February 7, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n