Ithaca will join global climate strikes Friday

September 19, 2019
by Kelsey O'Connor

ITHACA, N.Y. — Millions of people across the globe are expected to take to the streets and strike Friday to draw attention to the international climate emergency. Many Ithacans are expected to join the strike at two events planned Friday.

The strike comes a few days ahead of the UN Climate Summit in New York City, which is expected to bring leaders together to discuss concrete plans for addressing climate change. The strikes Friday are intended to disrupt business as usual because "our house is on fire. The climate crisis is an emergency but we're not acting like it," the organizing page states. Participants from more than 150 countries will be calling for an end to the age of fossil fuels.

Students from Ithaca College and Cornell University will begin marching down to the Ithaca Commons around 11 a.m. ahead of the Ithaca Global Climate Strike, organized by Sunrise Ithaca, from noon to 2 p.m. at the Bernie Milton Pavilion. There will be speakers, presentations, songs and a "space to build climate resiliency and climate action," the Facebook event states. Following the strike on the Ithaca Commons will be the Ithaca Climate Action rally on the shore of Cayuga Lake in Stewart Park hosted by the Paleontological Research Institution. Beginning at 3 p.m., speakers including local politicians, scientists, activists and students, will speak at the rally which is aiming to teach people how they can take individual and community action to combat climate change.

Speakers will include Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton; Tracy Mitrano, Democratic candidate for the NY-23 seat; Anne Armstrong, a doctoral student in Cornell's Department of Natural Resources and an author of "Communicating Climate Change: a Guide for Educators"; Dayna Jorgenson, director of programs at the Cayuga Nature Center; and Louis Derry, a professor in the earth and atmospheric sciences department at Cornell. There will also be entertainment from DJ Ziggy and Music for the Bahamas, featuring a benefit mini-concert with an opportunity to donate to the American Red Cross relief efforts for Hurricane Dorian.

The event at Stewart Park is hosted by PRI, which has been a leader in climate science education.

"PRI is the publisher of “The Teacher-Friendly Guide to Climate Change”, which has won national recognition. In conjunction with the publication of the Guide, PRI has undertaken a drive to fight climate-change denial propaganda by raising donations to distribute copies of the Guide free to every school in the United States," PRI said in a news release.


https://ithacavoice.com/2019/09/ithaca-will-join-global-climate-strikes-friday/

Intergenerational solidarity: Elders join youth in climate strikes

by Brian Roewe

Sep 19, 2019


Meet Ava Rabiner.

She's 17, and a senior at St. Mary Academy-Bay View in East Providence, Rhode Island. She supports the Green New Deal. And on Friday, she'll be joining more than three dozen classmates in walking out of their school, run by the Sisters of Mercy, and heading to Burnside Park in downtown Providence as part of the latest global youth climate strike.

"I think that all other issues fall secondary to climate change. That if we don't have a planet, then we won't have a democracy to protect," she told NCR. "So it's vitally important that we get people talking about climate change and we get people acting on their words."

Meet Sr. Mary Pendergast.

She's 73, and a Sister of Mercy living in Rhode Island. She also supports the Green New Deal, and has been active for decades on ecological issues. She'll be at Burnside Park on Friday, too.

"These kids deserve a future," she said. "And it's my responsibility to protect. To act on behalf of creation, to protect the poor and future generations."

The two, separated by nearly six decades in age, will be joining forces, along with people in roughly 150 countries and an estimated 4,800 protests, in the Sept. 20-27 climate strikes, part of the Fridays for Future movement begun last year by Swedish teen Greta Thunberg. This mass student strike, the third global iteration, is the first that has invited people of all ages to join. Not that age kept Pendergast from standing with young people at the past protests.

"I'm 73 years old, so I'm not leading anything," the Mercy sister said. "But I can be an ally."

https://www.ncronline.org/news/environme...ickSource=email

"My generation trashed the planet. So I salute the children striking back." Right ON George Monbiot.


Young people take to streets for Ithaca's Global Climate Strike

by Kelsey O'Connor
September 20, 2019


ITHACA, N.Y. — Hundreds of young people in Ithaca took to the streets Friday to strike for the climate.

The Ithaca Commons was the meeting place for the many students that streamed down from Cornell University and Ithaca College, from Ithaca High School, LACS, and other local schools with handmade signs. They chanted for a Green New Deal and shouted in unison, "Fossil fuels have got to go."

An estimated 1,200 people gathered by the Bernie Milton Pavilion on the Commons for Ithaca's part in the Global Climate Strike. It was one of thousands of demonstrations across the country and globe Friday. Millions of people took to the streets to urge leaders around the world to step up and combat climate change.

Speakers who addressed the large crowd Friday demanded a Green New Deal, respect of indigenous land, environmental justice, sustainable agriculture, and an immediate end to burning fossil fuels. Part of the mission of the Global Climate Strike is to draw attention to climate change as an emergency.

"The climate crisis is an emergency - we want everyone to start acting like it," the organizing page states.

Protesters carried signs Friday that read, "There is no Planet B," "I'm studying for a future that's being destroyed" and "Our house is on fire."

With the strikes, young people are putting pressure on world leaders to act. The demonstrations come a few days ahead of the UN Climate Action Summit, which will bring leaders from different sectors - politics, business, and others - to discuss concrete plans to address the global climate emergency.

The rallying continued later at Stewart Park, with several speakers including students, scientists and activists. One speaker was Franny Lux, a student at Lehman Alternative Community School.

"We need everyone who can to band together to help push forward legislation that can work to improve the outlook -- to slow our current warming, to ensure a sustainable future for my generation, for future generations. Showing up today is an important step but we must make sure to keep moving forward. Our time is running out," Lux said.

https://ithacavoice.com/2019/09/young-people-take-to-streets-for-ithacas-global-climate-strike/

Just another brain washed millennial, If humans would make all the changes in the way we live, like she wants, 2/3rds of the global population would be wiped out in less than a decade.

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/Doomsday-Scenario-A-World-Without-Oil.html

Politics vs. Research and Distribution
Much of the inability of GM technology to provide relief for the poorest nations seems to have less to do with the technology and more with social and political issues. Many of the poorest countries most strongly affected by famine, such as many African nations, have set up onerous regulations that prevent the growth and import of GM food and crops.

Much of this resistance seems to be prompted by groups such as the African Center for Biosafety and SAFeAGE, and also from international relationships with Europe which has tight restrictions on GM food. Also, and partially as a result of the political and social situation, groups, such as HarvestPlus, that focus on research and development crops and farming techniques to address third world hunger specifically avoid genetic engineering as a method to improve plants.

Aww. Relax and rest assured Chuck, your Baby Boomer brain-fart notwithstanding. This vibrant, innovative, upcoming generation have 'got this'.

Why is Greta Thunberg so triggering for certain men?
https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-styl...n-men-1.4002264

Student climate activists take action across Ithaca

by Anna Lamb
December 7, 2019

ITHACA, N.Y. –– Students took to the streets Friday, both on East Hill and in downtown Ithaca to protest climate change as part of a global climate strike.

Protestors at Cornell University met for a rally at Ho Plaza and marched from there, blocking traffic on streets surrounding campus, and culminating their strike at Day Hall –– the location of Cornell's President Martha Pollack's office.

The demonstrators hope to push the university's administration to divest from fossil fuels, as well as green the school's infrastructure and commit to green building standards on future projects.

"We essentially gave an ultimatum to the administration...we've been asking kindly for long enough, giving you until National Fossil Fuel Divestment day which is in February, to commit to divesting," said Nick Sutera, of Climate Justice Cornell, one the organizers of the strike. "If they commit to it then we're happy...If they don't then we will be taking more actions like this and disrupting business as usual."

Cornell University Police kept a careful eye on protestors, some of which were able to make it into the building to deliver a list of demands to the administration.

CUPD put the building on lockdown, and most protestors were stopped from making it past the lobby.


Twelve students were able to make it to the third floor of Day Hall, where the president's office is located. Their list of demands for the university are as follows:

Tell the Truth: Publicly acknowledge Cornell’s role in encouraging fossil fuel extraction, animal agriculture, and geopolitical conflicts created and exacerbated by climate change.
Act Now: Divest from fossil fuels, continue to decarbonize the University’s energy sources, and make veganism more accessible on campus.
Citizens Assembly: Actualizing a system of shared governance composed of those who are directly affected by Cornell’s decisions, with direct participation in University decision-making by students, faculty, non-academic staff, and local community members
Just Transition: All new infrastructure projects must be carbon neutral upon completion and meet the terms agreed upon in the Tompkins-Cortland Counties Building Trades Agreement.

https://ithacavoice.com/2019/12/student-climate-activists-take-action-across-ithaca/