Reflections from the NYC Climate Strike 2019

by B. Eni Owoeye

In more than 1,000 cities across all seven continents, millions of people flooded the streets to show up and demand climate action. Assiduous youth activists like Greta Thunberg actively encouraged younger generations to take their place center stage to march for equitable and swift climate action.

The global strike on September 20th marked the third of its kind, resulting in an even greater age and geographic diversity among demonstrators. The New York City march occurred on an unassailably important week for many reasons. Preceded by the 2020 Climate Forum, in which Democratic presidential candidates set out their climate action strategies, protesters made it known that they were watching to see which elected officials stood for or against their cause. With the annual Climate Week NYC beginning the following Monday, business and leaders within all fields –whether at the UN Climate Summit, or at a conference hosted by NYC– heard these warnings reverberated as youth emphasized the urgency of the issue.

There are few occasions I can imagine myself willingly surrounded by thousands of bodies on a hot day. No concert, with the exception of Beyoncé herself, would get that kind of commitment from me. But on Friday, September 20, 2019, eleven other students and I skipped lecture to march in a monumental climate demonstration for a variety of hopes, dreams, and frustrations.

As a College Leader in the College of Arts and Sciences, a lot of the students I’m blessed to work with are not from the New York area. They represent a variety of nationalities, interests, and upbringings. With regards to climate change, we all have different stakes and personal relationships to the environmental effects occurring across the globe. While the NYC Climate Strike was an opportunity to expose my first-year students to civic engagement within one of the largest and most active cities in the world, my desire to attend the event stemmed from a more intimate mission.

My place at NYU as a student is built on a set of liberties often normalized in the context of this setting. Yet, a replication of these same liberties are not fathomable in other environments, which is why I want my presence as part of global movements like the Climate Strike to send solidarity to those who don’t share the same liberties.

Climate change is presented to me as a revelation, an impending disaster. Not as a reality or as an omnipresent disruption to my livelihood, which is the case for a plethora of individuals.

I did not fear retaliation from my workplace because I chose to march.

I stepped over the commonplace NYC litter as we marched towards Battery Park, not over heavily damaged infrastructure like those recovering from natural disasters.

Walking towards Foley Square, I never once questioned my safety or the safety of my students; the only precaution to cross my mind came as my eyes glazed over the sheer numbers of the crowd and thought to myself “I hope I don’t lose a kid.”

Realizing these numerous privileges refocused the march for me not as an exemplary form of civic engagement , but instead as a component to the larger picture.

As we marched, signs like ‘Save the Turtles’ and ‘There is No Plan(et) B’ were the easiest signs for me to skim over. After all, what we’re asking for in climate policy is addressing the science pointing to alarming developments including– and beyond– our ecosystems.

Eliminating the need for fossil fuels will allow for fewer greenhouse gas emissions. It’s also a step in the necessary direction to restore and protect marginalized communities often dispossessed of land rights and/or subjected to the health effects resulting in the extraction of fossil fuels.

Believing the science is a unifying factor among all people marching for change; we now need to unify in pursuing individual actions to reduce our carbon impact and force social and political systems to acknowledge and proactively address climate change and environmental justice.

Whether you pledge to reduce your carbon footprint by adopting a plant-based diet, practicing smarter shopping habits by purchasing second-hand garments, or even avoiding cosmetics waste by using homemade remedies, everyone is entitled to choose what works for them and how feasible it is within their financial and time constraints. As a community, there are plenty of NYU events hosted to not only educate us on different components of environmentalism, but also to connect us to more innovative ways of how to make singular moments like the Climate Strike influence lifelong commitments.

To stay in the loop on upcoming events and actions, sign up for NYU newsletters including:

Eni Owoeye is a second-year Nigerian-American studying International Relations and Environmental Studies with a minor in Spanish. Environmental justice and sustainable development are her two main areas of interest because she’s interested in looking at how the world would function if there was more equitable food distribution, better environmental literacy and civic engagement, and greater geographic diversity in sustainable infrastructure planning. She enjoys learning about spirituality and faith-based groups, podcasts, the fashion industry, reading, taking self defense classes, and relaxing at Costco.