Illinois students march in a strike over climate change
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The demand of the striking student was political actions to be taken on climate change. Thousands of students gathered in Grant Park on Friday and marched to Federal Plaza. The expectation of the organizers was at least 1000 students on the base of the Facebook invitation. There were more than 1000 students as the march made its way past Buckingham Fountain, and into the center of Chicago’s loop.
Federal Plaza was filled by the marching students at the end of the strike. Isabella Johnson, an organizer of the Illinois Youth Climate Strike and a senior student of Benet Academy, said, “We may seem like kids without power but I guarantee that my generation will show up at the polls like no other.” She said that they would vote the Political leaders out if they would not take their political future as a first priority.
Greta Thunberg, a Swedish youth activist, started the school climate strike about a year ago. The strikes have been growing quickly all across the world since then. The strikes took place in 150 countries across the world on Friday, according to the website of Global Climate Strike. The strike started in Australia and moved along in other countries.
Thunberg appeared in a strike which took place in New York. She addressed the Congress on Wednesday about the climate change and she is planning to address the United Nations Climate Action Summit next week. The passage of the Clean Energy Jobs Act was a top issue addressed by the marchers in Chicago. It was the first time when the students of Chicago joined the student strikers over climate issues, according to the organizers of the Illinois Youth Climate Strike.
The speakers at a news conference before the stepping off of the strike demanded the Illinois Clean Energy Jobs Act. The act will create thousands of jobs for the people in the field of renewable energy, according to strikers. The marchers said that the act would pledge the state to entirely renewable energy by 2050. Ann Williams, a State Representative of Chicago, welcomed the support of the student strikers on Thursday.
