By Celica Cook, SBM Student Life Editor
You’ve probably seen talk about climate change all over social media, in the news and on Twitter. In today’s particular political day and age, climate change is a hot topic, and for good reason.
We are in a global climate crisis, and this week, people all over the world came together for the Global Climate Strike. According to globalclimatestrike.net, the strikes are meant to inspire action toward “ending the age of fossil fuels, and solving the climate crisis.”
The office of sustainability took a group of students to the strike in Harrisburg on Friday, September 20.
This Friday is the last day of the global climate strike, but there is talk of strikes continuing within the next couple of months on Fridays specifically.
Madeline Troyer, senior sustainability major participated in the strike in Harrisburg last week.
“Messiah probably made up a third of the crowd which was awesome,” Troyer said.
The event included a time where protesters could speak to the crowd. Troyer, joined by Amelia Lindquist, junior environmental science major, took the opportunity, and spoke their message about climate action to the Harrisburg protesters.
Troyer believes the strike is an effective start to making a positive global impact in regards to climate change.
“I think we’re at a time where the science is out there, the politicians aren’t doing anything about it, and so this is the next step,” Troyer said.
According to some documents released this year from the Office of Sustainability, the college has a three-step plan for contributing to the global effort of solving the climate crisis. First, the campus has committed to cutting their greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent from 2008 levels by 2050 and achieving carbon neutrality. Second, Messiah has says it will support sustainability education for students through programs and activities on campus. Third, the college has committed to evaluating campus’s sustainability every other year.
“The facts about the state of the climate are very pressing, and the window for action is shortening” Aaron Weber, junior environmental science major said at the Prayer for Climate Action event on Wednesday. “We’ve been talking about this for a long time, and haven’t done what we should up to this point, so there’s a need for action.”
After the group prayers were over, students wrote letters to the current legislators about working to affect change in the laws surrounding the environment.
Brandon Hoover, director of sustainability, felt encouraged about the turnout of the prayer and the global strike events.
“The fact that people are here and showing up is really encouraging,” Hoover said.
The global strike movement is officially ending today, but Troyer says that the striking is likely to continue regardless.
“There’s talk about it happening again in the coming months, or happening every Friday,” Troyer said.