UCLA students stage campus march for climate change action
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., an environmental activist, addresses a group of students as a part of Know Tomorrow’s national day of action to encourage students to join the fight against climate change. (Courtesy of Danna Creager)
By Sierra deSousa
Oct. 5, 2015 9:26 a.m.
About 25 students who support the climate change awareness movement marched from the Bruin Bear to the bottom of Janss Steps on Friday, demanding action to minimize the effects of global warming.
UCLA joined more than 50 universities including USC and The Claremont Colleges undergraduate schools in Know Tomorrow, a national student-led campaign dedicated to climate change action.
Cassie Venable, a second-year business economics student and student leader of Know Tomorrow at UCLA, organized a March on Westwood on Friday, the movement’s “National Day of Action.”
Although more than 100 students signed up to march in support of the campaign, only about 25 showed up, Venable said. USC and The Claremont Colleges had a turnout of about 400 and 600 students respectively, said USC student leader Zach Manta and The Claremont Colleges student leader Thomas Erb.
Venable said the goal of the campaign is to make climate change a front-page political issue. While they marched, students carried a large timeline depicting potential consequences of inaction on climate change, including animal extinction and rising sea levels.
“We must know tomorrow, or we’ll have no tomorrow,” they chanted.
Venable said she thinks there isn’t time to debate about whether or not climate change is an issue. Instead, the debate should address potential solutions.
Lane Semper, a member of Al Gore’s The Climate Reality Project, a non-profit organization that trains volunteers to give speeches on climate change, came to support the campaign and answered questions about the issue.
“Changes happen at grass roots,” she said. “If you look at the civil rights, suffragette and labor rights movements, they all began with small groups coming together and starting a conversation.”
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., an environmental activist who invests in renewable energy alternatives, gave a keynote speech in Wilson Plaza after the march. He said wealthy lobbyists have strong influence over politicians and environmental legislation.
“Democracy is up for sale,” Kennedy said. “The energy market is controlled by carbon cronies who make it impossible to build a power plant and very easy to build a pipeline.”
He added it is important for progressive campuses across the nation such as UCLA to join the fight against climate change.
“When you’re turning a giant tanker ship, you have to use tugboats,” Kennedy said. “This is a long-term campaign, but it is getting stronger steadily.”
After Kennedy’s speech, Aradhna Tripati, associate professor of earth, planetary and space sciences, shared the results of her research on projected temperature increases and their consequences on the environment, including an increase in the pH levels of the ocean.
Olivia St. Pierre, a first-year music and microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics student, expressed disappointment at the small turnout.
“I would have liked to see more people march,” she said. “Although the universities involved are certainly prominent and influential, I think it really comes down to the community and who’s willing to show up.”
Venable said she is trying to start a club for Know Tomorrow and plans to organize more events.
“This is only the beginning,” she said. “I can’t wait to explore the potential we have here at UCLA.”
