Student activists host climate change rally to raise awareness and create a call for action

Speakers from left to right, top row to bottom row: Adam Nadifi, Delegate James Solomon, Wandra Ashley-Williams, Hope Clark, Benny Roman, Aadhiti Vallatharasu, Raki and Julia Hananel. (Aaron Wright/ The Black Explosion)

Students, speakers, musicians and a state delegate gathered this Friday in front of McKeldin Library to raise awareness and make a rallying cry for the ongoing global climate crisis.

This climate rally was organized by Fridays for Future, an international student movement, which according to their website, “[puts] moral pressure on policymakers, to make them listen to the scientists, and then to take forceful action to limit global warming.”

“People most affected are people in low income communities, people of color,” said Climate Xchange’s Regional Director Wanda Ashley-Williams.

 Fridays for Future was also joined by Climate Xchange, an advocacy group which pushes for state officials to move away from fossil fuels in an effort to make a greener Earth. Climate Xchange also works towards getting students involved in the fight against climate change.

“We have done a lousy job, but our eyes are open now, and we are going to change that, but in order to do it we need to empower you,” said Ashley-Williams.

The climate rally started with a speech from sophomore public policy major Julia Hananel.

“Scientists predict that the Maryland climate will start to feel a lot like the climate of southern states, like Mississippi, by the year 2060. This means Maryland will be a lot hotter, a lot more humid and there’ll be a lot more mosquitoes,” Hananel said.

Throughout the rally, many of the speakers said that big corporations and the rich account for the majority of carbon emissions in the world, leaving the rest of the population to feel the brunt of its effects. This especially holds true for people of color and other minorities.

“There are major disparities because people of color bear the brunt of the effects of climate change due to systemic racism and due to colonization around the world. With Hurricane Katrina, it was Black Americans who suffered the greatest consequences from the city’s failed response to the storm” said Hananel, whose family was personally affected by Hurricane Katrina.

Aadhiti Vallatharasu, a behavioral and social sciences representative for the Student Government Association at the University of Maryland, also gave a personal testimony about how climate change affects countries like India.

“It’s a smell that I had the privilege to leave behind. That level of pollution was my reality for two weeks once every two years. But to others in India and many other developing countries, it is their constant reality… which alone kills more than one million people a year in India,” Vallatharasu said.

In working towards a more carbon neutral future, Montgomery County Delegate Jared Solomon, D-District 18 introduced the Facilitating University Transformations by Unifying Reductions in Emissions Act. The bill pushes for Maryland universities to become carbon neutral by the year 2035. 

“The university system is one of the largest users of energy in the state of Maryland period,” Solomon said.

However, he had this to say about the University of Maryland’s efforts on fighting climate change.

“I have to say, College Park has really been at the vanguard and the forefront. Dr. Pines made a commitment by 2025 to go carbon neutral, and College Park is leading the way, frankly because of people like you,” Solomon said.

Throughout the event, all the speakers had one common theme when speaking: climate change is a serious issue that needs to be dismantled by everyone.

Musical performances were also featured in the rally. Maryland student and musician Benny Roman sang to the crowd with lyrics relating to the effort to stop climate change and to those who cause it.

“Who’s gonna stand up and save the Earth? This all starts with you and me,” Roman said

The rally also featured flyers with resources for those interested in joining the movement seen below:

A Climate Xchange [Maryland] Rebuild Maryland Coalition flyer distributed throughout the crowd during the climate change rally on Friday, September 24. (Aaron Wright/The Black Explosion)