Global Climate Strike—Principia Students Raise Their Voices
The Global Climate Strike on September 20—reportedly the largest-ever mobilization to fight climate change—brought citizens pouring into the streets in an attempt to influence media and decision-makers in more than 150 countries, including the United States.
A substantial contingent of Principia students, from both campuses, joined hundreds of strikers in St. Louis who rallied to listen to business leaders, clergy, and community activists before marching from City Hall to the Arch and back. Reflecting on the experience, sophomore Valerie Perse, co-president of the College’s Sustainability Club, said, "It was so amazing to see such a large group of people there, including students and faculty from Principia College and [School] campuses. With sea level rising and heat records shattered year after year, it gave me a great sense of hope that people do care and people do know that if something isn't done now, there will be even more dangerous consequences. I was so proud to see everyone—including our own students and faculty—showing up for this event. We need to spread the word about major issues, with the hope that policymakers will begin to listen to what citizens want."
Dr. Karen Eckert, professor of sustainability and director of the Principia College Center for Sustainability, sees the students’ participation in the strike in the context of the campus’s overall focus on sustainability. “The College expresses its commitment to a just and sustainable future in so many ways, large and small,” she comments. “The campus has been (electric) powered by 100% renewable energy for more than a decade, and purchasing decisions—everything from cleaning chemicals to major appliances to office furniture—are made with careful attention to the triple bottom line of ‘wisdom, economy, and brotherly love’ (Mary Baker Eddy, Manual of The Mother Church, p. 77).”
“Our students expect this kind of attention to detail, and they often push the agenda further with repeated calls for the College to abandon single-use plastic, install water filling stations campus-wide, expand local food purchasing, and improve our recycling,” Eckert continues. “I’m not at all surprised that when the call went out asking students around the world to join the global chorus for more urgent attention to climate change—by any measure the most urgent social justice issue of their generation—they walked out of class and joined their peers in the streets of St. Louis.”