Students participate in KC Climate Strike at Country Club Plaza

graphics by Lauren Dierks

In preparation for the KC Climate Strike at the Country Club Plaza on Sept. 20, students met in the East cafeteria to make signs, discuss the issue of climate change and hear student advocates speak about climate change and their coinciding beliefs. 

A collection of around 700 KC metro community members, many of whom were students and activists, gathered in the Plaza with the goal of spreading climate change awareness. The Plaza protest was part of a global movement initially developed by 350, an international organization focused on bettering the planet. After news of 350’s plans to protest spread, hundreds of strikes and protests were held in cities across the globe along with supporters of climate change education.

The Plaza strike was organized by Sunrise Movement Kansas City, a local branch of a national conglomerate that, like 350, urges youth to prioritize bettering the world’s climate.

Check out the gallery for the climate change rally by clicking this link. 

Sunrise Hub trainer and Recruitment team leader Khiana Harris was one of the rally planners. Her role in the rally, along with preliminary planning, was to involve youth. According to Harris, involving young people in world issues will help the upcoming generation become more educated and facilitate the conflict of solving those issues.

“That’s a big part of what Sunrise is all about,” Harris said. “We have to be the ones to take charge and we have to be the ones that do something about it.”

One of Harris’ jobs was finding and recruiting students from all around KC to join the rally. Along with joining the rally, students were encouraged to participate in a school walkout.

One of the recruited students, junior Violet Apodaca, hosted a pre-rally preparation event in the cafeteria after school.

Originally, Apodaca had planned a walkout in alignment with Harris’ plans but due to district policy prohibiting walkouts that interfere with the school day, the event was moved to the cafeteria and after school hours. This minor obstacle didn’t stop her from speaking out and recruiting East’s student body in the fight against climate change.

“I feel like at our school, we talk about a lot of issues like gun violence, but we haven’t ever really done something for climate change,” Apodaca said. “So, I really just wanted to be involved in the global movement.”

Instead of the walk-out, she had the event attendees make posters for the later rally at the Plaza. This way, she could still work towards her goal of spreading awareness without infringing on district policy, while preparing for the city’s rally.

Along with making posters, three students, including Apodaca, delivered speeches about climate change and what change looks like to them.

Junior Paige Good was one of three students who spoke at the cafeteria. She believes, like Harris, that Generation Z is a vital piece in advocating for future policy change.

“[My goal is] raising awareness and making sure kids know that it’s okay to be passionate about something and to be involved in it,” Good said.

Sophomore Christian Alldredge also spoke at the after-school event. He believes that students and all people in general should be knowledgeable about social issues such as climate change in order to learn how to develop solutions.

“If we’re not taught to be conscious consumers, if we’re not taught to be avid recyclers, if we’re not taught to reuse our stuff that we potentially will not reuse, we’re never going to know,” Alldredge said. “We’re never going to learn.”

At the rally, these students participated in the large step towards fixing the global climate problem. According to Harris, the rally acted as an important initiative thanks to the signing of the Green New Deal pledge — a pledge for a national bill that will address climate change —  by Kansas City mayor Quinton Lucas during the event.

“The powers that he has as mayor and the things that he’s going to be doing he’ll be looking at them through a comprehensive lens of not just social justice and economic justice, but also climate justice,” Harris said.