![Benjamin Williams and Reese Sherman, social studies teachers, explain department information a guest. "This [open house] was, for me, a great opportunity to meet family in the district that will soon be attending the high school," Williams said.](https://www.utimesonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/DSC_9117-1200x800.jpg)
Climate strike walkout raises awareness
Students raise signs around there heads as the climate strike goes on
October 1, 2021
According to NASA, the temperature will rise between 2.5 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century if our human activity remains unabated, according to NASA.. Not too many people are spreading awareness in our community but Emma Scharff, senior, is committed to it. Due to Scharff’s belief that climate change is negatively affecting the earth, she led a strike outside of school on Sept. 24.
“The agenda of the walkout started with a guest speaker session with Lydia Soifer, former U. City student, followed by a 10-minute strike outside of the school starting at 9 am which signifies the nine years we have left until the worst effects of climate change are irreversible, according to one scientific study,” Scharff said.
During her session, Soifer explained her role as a conservation biologist and programs where students can perform similar studies while being in high school or in college. Scharff and Soiffer are familiar with each other as they met last year and she’s also pretty close with Julie Ertmann, science teacher.
“The guest speaker was a previous student of Mrs. Ertmann’s and she spoke to my AP Biology class last year about her work and her college experience,” Scharff said. “Mrs. Ertmann gave me her email afterwards because I had a couple of questions for her and thought that it would be great if she could talk to our Environmental Club, too.”
Scharff was inspired to lead the strike because after she witnessed how other people around the world show how much they care about the climate, she wanted to do the same.
“I got the idea a few years ago from hearing about students in New York and all over the country organizing strikes for their schools,” Scharff said.’There was a Global Climate Strike coming up and so I thought it would be a really impactful thing for us to participate in.”
She was happy to finally be able to do the walkout to show solidarity for climate change efforts around the world.
“I hope that from this, students will be empowered to learn more about climate change and other environmental issues and will want to do more to make a change,” Scharff said. “I also hope that by entering our strike into a climate strike database, politicians and corporations will see that there are people who care about the climate and are pushing for change.”
