Breanne3
Registered: October 2014
Posts: 1
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A March in September
My name is Breanne and I am a sophomore at the University of Redlands in Redlands, California where I will be double majoring in Environmental Business and Environmental Policy and Management. This semester I am taking the introduction course to Environmental Studies and have already realized this is the exact field I want to base my career off of. The environment, and nature in general, have always been a passion of mine and I am lucky enough to be attending an institution that can propel me into building my career from something I truly love. In case it was missed in the news, this past September more than 100,000 people and over 100 world leaders gathered in New York City to participate in the largest climate march in history. These people all around the world, seeking to address climate change and demanding the attention and commitment of world leaders to tackle the global climate crisis, gathered in the streets to make history and take a stand. Aside from these activists gathered in New York City, 2646 events in 162 different countries around the world participated in their own climate marches. Sitting at my desk, I realized that this march was going to be the biggest in history and every part of me felt this movement was not one to miss. Sadly, a ticket to New York isn’t the most realistic of purchases for a college student, but I knew I had to get involved. I turned to my Environmental Studies professor and with a short but passionate conversation, we decided to have a climate march of our own to show our support and determination for climate change. My professor and I told the class of the People’s Climate March in New York City and told them how we would be participating in one of our own here with the students from the University. When September 21st came around, the day of the monumental march, we had built up a team of around 10 students from our class and planned to occupy one of the main streets in downtown Redlands. During the week prior, our professor had allowed in class time for the creation of posters, so that we had something to bring to our march. With our signs in hands, and passion in our hearts, we set up on the corner of two of the busiest streets in town and protested for what we believed in, saving our beautiful environment. To clarify, we were a peaceful protest, walking up and down the streets and letting our message be seen and heard to passing citizens. One thing that I will never forget about our march was the turnout we had from random Redlands citizens. People from around our university heard that students and faculty were conducting a climate march and were enthusiastic at the chance to get involved. Our mere 10 students and 1 professor doubled from willing participants of our community. It just really demonstrated how the environment, our environment, is something that people care about and are willing to stand up for. While we were nothing compared to the hundreds of thousands of people flooding the streets of New York City, I truly believe our small population of activists made a statement to our community and raised awareness to the cause. Time and time again we see the tragic instance of people pushing off environmental stewardship because, “Our tiny contribution won’t do anything” or “It’s already too late to help anything”, all of which are false statements. It is never too late to get involved, and never to small of a contribution to save our planet. As the saying goes, pyramids weren’t built overnight and neither are major environmental changes. From the will of a couple students and a professor, citizens all around the city of Redlands noticed, or at least thought about, the problems with our climate and environment and I feel very proud of the fact that I had part in that. I learned countless things from this experience and I am so glad that we, as a class, took initiative to start a movement whether huge or small. It is never too late to stop the destruction and start the healing.
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