Climate Strikes as Rites of Mourning the Future- Sarah Pike
We are excited to share this latest piece from ISSRNC scholars Sarah Pike, reflecting on the Youth Climate Strikes that have been taking place across the US and around the world. In this latest piece, Pike argues we can find powerful examples of rituals of morning being enacted through these youth actions.
Here is an excerpt from her piece:
On Friday, December 6, 2019, a day of national climate strikes, I heard drums outside my monthly morning meeting at California State University, Chico. Climate strikers from our university and local high schools were marching through campus carrying signs, drumming, chanting, and accumulating people as they went. I walked out of the meeting to join them. For a while the president of the university joined the march, as did other university employees as we passed their offices and classrooms. The march followed a circuitous route through the halls of campus buildings and across open quads, a visual and aural reminder of the future we face. Chants and drums created a soundscape of protest, while signs and banners challenged business as usual. Instead of simply gathering in the university’s officially designated free speech area, the march permeated many different spaces on campus with its messages: “A Livable Future,” “Strike for the Climate,” “For the air we breathe, For the water we drink, For the planet we call home,” “Extinction Rebellion,” and “Fridays for Future.”
The December 6 strike was initiated by young people to protest government inaction on climate-related issues and to demand a livable future. That day, in an act of national synchronicity, students walked out of high schools and colleges across the United States. Social media powered the spread of the Friday strike with hashtags like #FridaysForFuture and #ClimateStrike. Young people and their supporters of all ages acted together, aspiring toward a different future than the tragic one that seems destined to come their way.
You can read the entire article here on The Immanent Frame.
