Young people rally at climate protests around the world

Part of the series of chants that filled New York City streets today were calls to give Indigenous land back and to stop the Line 3 pipeline, which has garnered much opposition in recent weeks with the project nearing completion. 

Non-Indigenous youth climate activists say they are amplifying Indigenous voices that have been calling on the White House to make a last-ditch effort to halt the pipeline from crossing tribal lands and to avoid the potential risks of spills.

Many of the protests against the pipeline have been centered in Minnesota, where it passes bodies of water including the mouth of the Mississippi River. If the pipeline becomes fully operational, Line 3 will carry about 760,000 barrels of Canadian oil each day from North Dakota to Wisconsin. 

Tokata Iron Eyes, 18, who marched at the strike in New York, said she’s representing young Indigenous peoples and ancestors who couldn’t show up and fight for the planet today. Iron Eyes said she is calling on US leaders to put an end to fossil fuel subsidies, halt the Line 3 pipeline, and redact the permits for the Dakota Access pipeline in South Dakota. 

Some context: Despite sweeping climate pledges, including a recent one on limiting methane — a major component of natural gas — the Biden administration has defended a key decision that was made in the last days of the Trump administration to issue those permits.

But it could still withdraw the federal permits that are allowing the pipeline to move forward, and that’s what youth climate activists were calling for in their speeches today. 

Iron Eyes said the tides are changing with the youth climate movement in that it is becoming more diverse and spotlighting more Indigenous issues. 

“Being there and representing so much more than just one person and understanding that presence in itself opens so many doors,” she said. “The visibility was important for me.”

Youth climate activists marched in New York City today to call for climate justice and to put an end to the burning of fossil fuels. 

As strikers made their way down to Lower Manhattan’s financial district, stopping New York City traffic, the bustling streets filled with chants like “sea levels are rising, so are we,” “Keep that carbon in the soil,” and “There’s nothing natural about natural gas.”

The path followed the same route as 2019’s larger climate strike when Greta Thunberg made an appearance. Among the faces in the march toward Battery Park, where the crowd heard from speakers and musicians, were prominent youth activists such as Alexandria Villaseñor, Jerome Foster II, and Jamie Margolin. 

Villanseñor told CNN her goals have evolved since she started striking at 13. She has been striking every Friday in front of the United Nations headquarters in New York since December 2018 until the pandemic lockdowns began.

Foster, currently the youngest member serving on the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council, told CNN he was wearing red to represent the findings of the landmark UN state-of-the-science report on climate change, which has been called a “code red for humanity.”

Margolin, co-founder of the climate organization Zero Hour who joined the movement in 2016, was also wearing red to represent a world on fire. She grew up in the Pacific Northwest, which this summer experienced a record-shattering heat wave that scientists say would have been “virtually impossible” without human-caused climate change. 

“It’s been such a long journey, and it’s really overwhelming in a good way to see such joy ands resilience right now because it’s been such a dark time for so long,” she told CNN. “Online activism is just not the same, especially with so much climate disasters happening.”

The theme for today’s Global Climate Strike is “Uproot The System” which is meant to spotlight the most climate-vulnerable communities. 

Organizers say uprooting the system means addressing the historical legacies of injustice that exacerbate the most severe impacts of the climate crisis. 

Against the backdrop of the UN General Assembly, climate activists are calling on developed nations to not only rapidly slash greenhouse gas emissions, but to also push for climate financing toward helping developing countries from being left behind. 

Wealthier nations are the largest greenhouse gas emitters in the planet, yet vulnerable communities such as small island nations and Indigenous peoples feel most of its consequences. These countries also disproportionately suffer the most severe impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

“We cannot allow the world to continue to ignore the social impacts of the climate crisis, because all social inequalities are exacerbated when climate and environmental conditions impact local communities,” activists say.

Climate activists in Istanbul staged a "die in" outside the city's Gazhane Museum.

The protests are part of thousands of rallies scheduled around the world alongside the United Nations General Assembly and as part of Greta Thunberg's Fridays for Future climate movement.

Today's rallies mark the first climate strike in Turkey since Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan announced at the UN on Tuesday that Turkey will bring the Paris Agreement to parliament for approval next month ahead of COP26.

Here's what it looked like outside of the museum:

Emine Ozkan, co-spokesperson of Turkey's Green Party, welcomed President Tayyip Erdogan's announcement this week that Turkey will bring the Paris Agreement to parliament for approval next month ahead of COP26.

"Until Tuesday, Turkey was one of the six countries that did not ratify Paris Climate Agreement together with Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Libya and Yemen," Ozkan said. "We, the Greens, and the climate movement in Turkey have been fighting for years for this outcome. Our struggle and the interest in climate politics, especially the Paris Climate Agreement in the international arena, did not allow Turkey to resist any longer."

"We need to see that ratifying the Paris climate agreement is the beginning, not the end. Turkey has a lot of work ahead of it. First of all, greenhouse gas emission reduction targets should be updated realistically in line with the 1.5 degree target. After this update, strategic plans should be made on how the reduction will take place in all policy areas, and Turkey should set a target year in order to be carbon neutral," she continued.

"As the opposition parties, we must closely monitor and audit all processes and put pressure on taking bold steps. Because we have no time to lose! Our house is on fire," Ozkan added.

Members of Climate Action Network (CAN) have reacted to the 76th UN General Assembly that took place in New York this week. Over the week, world leaders addressed the climate crisis and announced their agendas for the upcoming year, but CAN members argue they are not doing enough.

With weeks to go until the Cop26 climate summit, members of the group, including 1,500 NGOs in more than 130 countries, are calling on world leaders to work together to tackle the climate crisis.

Following Friday’s youth climate strikes, Mitzi Jonelle Tan, a Fridays for Future activist from the Philippines, highlighted a key message from their #UprootTheSystem campaign, telling rich countries they have a “climate debt to humanity.”

Biden has pledged $100 billion towards climate funding before COP26, however Cansin Leylim, associate director of global campaigns at 350.org, said that it is not enough. 

“To ensure that the global temperature stays below 1.5°C degrees, trillions of dollars are required. The USA should pay its fair share,” said Leylim.

Young people in Istanbul want more to be done to tackle climate change.

"We faced the striking results of climate crisis in Turkey and all over the world recently," university student Yaren Ozcan told CNN. The country suffered some of the worst wildfires in its history this summer followed by heavy flash floods across Turkish Black Sea provinces, that killed dozens of people in the north.

"We are the last generation to change this wrong path," the 21-year old said. "This is an international day. We got together in Istanbul but there are strikes in other cities in Turkey. We are here to make our voices heard and for climate emergency awareness," she added.

"It is a hopeful development that Turkey announced it will ratify Paris," Ozcan said referencing Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan's announcement at the UN Tuesday that Turkey will bring the Paris Agreement to parliament for approval next month ahead of COP26.

"We were surprised to hear while getting ready for today. We are happy, and will keep following its application close," she added.

Founder of the Fridays for Future movement, Greta Thunberg, is addressing crowds of protesters in Berlin – two days before Germany goes to the polls.

The country has the highest number of youth protests planned for Friday, with more than 400 scheduled to take place.

"Yes, we must vote, you must vote, but remember that voting only will not be enough. We must keep going into the streets," Thunberg said that in direct reference to Sunday's election.

"(It’s not an overstatement to say) They simply don’t give a damn about us," she said talking about German politicians and political parties.

"We need to become all climate activists and we need to uproot the system," Thunberg added.

Watch:

Climate activists in Istanbul are holding a vegan picnic to start their protests against the climate crisis. Images from the picnic show youth activists sitting on blankets, eating food and holding signs calling for action.

It is the first climate strike since the Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan announced at the UN on Tuesday that Turkey will bring the Paris Agreement to parliament for approval next month ahead of COP26.

Turkey signed the Paris agreement in 2016 but was one of the six countries that did not ratify it, along with Eritrea, İran, Iraq, Libya, Yemen.

This is a big step forward, but many activists are still calling for further action.

Turkey is vulnerable to climate change, and this summer saw some of the worst wildfires in the country's history. Soon after, heavy flash floods swept across Turkish Black Sea provinces, killing dozens of people in the north.