Make America green again
May 1, 2017
“I can’t believe I’m protesting for reality,” said the sign held proudly over my head during the People’s Climate March. I attended this march on Saturday, April 29, with hopes of bringing more attention to a pressing issue.
On the 100th day of President Donald Trump’s administration, hundreds of thousands of people protested in hope that the government will do more to protect our planet. Throughout the first 100 days, the administration has denied climate change.
NASA has introduced alarming statistics of climate change including facts such as the sea level has risen 3.4 millimeters per year, global temperature has risen 1.7 percent since 1880 and ice sheets have shrunk 13.3 percent per decade.
Most importantly, climate change is not just a natural occurrence, humans are greatly worsening its effects. According to NASA, “the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded that there is a more than 95 percent probability that human activities over the past 50 years have warmed our planet.”
Trump has repeatedly dismissed the impacts of climate change. Specifically, in November of 2012, he infamously tweeted “the concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.”
Trump’s tweet was and still is not only factually incorrect but also downright deranged. It frustrates me as well as many others that his administration is not properly addressing this threatening issue. Specifically, the page on climate change is no longer available to read about on the Environmental Protection Agency website. It is a topic that no human being should ignore because it greatly affects the beautiful world in which we live.
Marching for truth, the protesters split themselves up into eight different marching blocs; I chose to march with “Guardians of the Future,” a group targeted towards children and teenagers. It was inspiring to walk side by side with fellow students who shared my values.
Even though I was surrounded by young people for the majority of the march, I came upon a charming 91-year-old woman when I reached the White House. Despite being in a wheelchair, she had an inspiring smile on her face holding a sign that read “mother nature is older than me, respect your elders.”
This woman’s determination taught me that you can stand up for what you believe in without standing on two feet. Her passion for making the world a better place for the next generation is inspiring. The issue of climate change is bigger than me and her, because we were not just advocating for the present, we were advocating for the future.
This experience was so gratifying because I felt that my opinions really do have an impact. It is disappointing to constantly hear that our government denies such a prominent issue, yet I am happy to say that this protest restored some of my hope for the future.
Regardless of political affiliation, I believe every human being should take this issue seriously because the earth belongs to all of us. Whether you agree with my opinions or not (and you should — 97 percent of scientists do), the most important aspect that anyone can take away from a protest is to appreciate and exercise the First Amendment’s “freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”
