Exonians Protest at Portsmouth Climate Strike

“Dinosaurs probably thought they had time.” “The climate is changing, why aren’t we?” “Sorry I had to skip chem—trying to save the earth.”

These colorful slogans flew above a crowd of New Hampshire state representatives, scientists and youth activists assembled to strike for climate action on Friday, Sept. 20. Among the many young advocates were 50 Exonians who skipped classes and boarded buses to the strike in Portsmouth.

On that day, across the nation and the world, students chose to miss class, instead attending climate strikes to demonstrate their fears about the imminent threats of climate change. Three hundred miles away, a quarter of a million protesters marched through the streets of Lower Manhattan in the largest climate demonstration in history, rallying ambition before the United Nations’ Climate Action Summit.

Exeter’s participation at the Portsmouth strike was organized by Exeter Climate Lobby, an on-campus organization. With the support of Sustainability Coordinator Jason BreMiller and advisor Warren Biggins, uppers and co-heads Alicia Coble, Bea Burack and Erin McCann scheduled vans and Red Dragons to and from the protest. Most students who attended missed multiple required appointments, and organizers asked whether or not they wished to incur unexcused absences.

For McCann, the strike was an opportunity to involve the community. "We live inside the Exeter bubble and many clubs make a difference within the campus, but by bringing students to the protest, Exeter Climate Lobby engages in activism happening in the real world,” McCann said.

Coble believes that attending a strike at Portsmouth or elsewhere is a concrete way to enact change. “For example, there’s our March on Washington right now and in my home state of Massachusetts; a lot of my friends and family are protesting at the state house and meeting with our representatives,” she said. “It's just really exciting to see that change happening.”

Instead of a marching protest, the climate strike in Portsmouth featured a dozen speakers from different disciplinary backgrounds speaking about the impact of climate change and action protesters could take. The Sunrise Movement, for instance, advocated for strikers to oppose and vote out Sununu, the New Hampshire governor who vetoed all renewable energy bills. Bright pink flyers criticizing Christopher Sununu for “veto[ing] our children’s future” were passed around the hissing crowd.

Influential scientific voices were present as well. Harvard professor Greg Norris explained that people must have a positive net impact on the environment. “We’ve got to shrink our footprint and increase positive change; I call these handprints,” Norris said. “All of us can do that. Then the world is a better and cleaner place because of you.”

For students, missing class to attend the Climate Strike was a difficult decision. Upper Isabel Carden recounted her struggles to balance academics and her passion for environmental activism. “When I was deciding whether or not I should attend the Climate Strike, it was hard,” she said. “I have never missed a class before, but I was reminded that in 20 years, I’m not going to remember the math class that I missed, I’m going to remember the strike that I went to.”

Despite this conflict of interest, many more students and faculty signed up for the strike than the co-heads had initially expected. “I think we gained more interest, and then we got 50 RSVPs,” McCann said. “We were expecting 20 people to want to come, so this was just really exciting.”

Attending the protest raises student awareness about climate change, lower Elizabeth McMahan said, “I feel that going to events like this also impacts myself. I am making an effort to change for the better and to keep myself up to date with what’s happening in the world.”

Other Exonians were motivated by activist Greta Thunberg, a 16-year-old leader of the international climate movement. Thunberg stopped going to school every Friday and striked in front of the Swedish Parliament, seeing no reason to invest in her education without ensuring the future of the climate. Prep Cindy Su saw Thunberg’s decision to sacrifice school work for activism as “a powerful statement” that would especially resonate with Exonians.

Faculty across many disciplines attended the strike with Exonians. Theater and Dance Instructor Sarah Ream described the importance of striking for the climate. “If you address this issue, you acknowledge many different problems since climate change underpins everything else—social justice, equity, our childrens’ future,” she said. “If we don’t get this right, nothing else matters.”

Though climate change is unavoidable, as Science Instructor Elizabeth Stevens said, action must be taken as soon as possible. “It’s crucial that we do something sooner rather than later,” Stevens said. “In fact, that may already be too late, but at least if we do something, the impacts may not be quite as bad. Climate change is going to affect all of our lives for the rest of our lives and future generations.”

After the strike, students like Carden felt energized by the assembled activists. “When we first walked into the strike, everybody started clapping,” Carden said. “I instantly felt like I knew these people and that we were part of the community. While we were complete strangers, we all had this one thing that we were fighting for, which was change in climate policy. That wasn’t something I was expecting.”

Upper Dylan O’Day was especially touched by an activist who spoke about the disastrous impact of Haiti’s recent hurricanes a result of climate change, and the impact it had on her immediate family. “It felt like an awakening to me,” O’Day said. “I realized that it is personally affecting people around me.”

Though the strike was a success, some students, such as upper Joseph Chen, had mixed feelings regarding Exeter’s level of support prior to the event. “I do think that Exeter should spread more awareness,” Chen said. He proposed that the school “let students know that they have these options instead of keeping it confined to some students.”

Other members of the Exeter community noted that the female to male ratio was skewed. “I do think that the higher concentration of females in environmental activism is a national and global trend,” Biology Instructor Sydnee Goddard said.

Burack added that Exeter Climate Lobby’s female representation may have also contributed. “I think that—at least for our club—it's important to recognize that all four of our co-heads are all female,” she said. “That might've impacted the gender of individuals who signed up at club night and for the protest.”

Despite the imbalance in demographics, Exeter Climate Lobby advisor Warren Biggins views the youth protest as the next generation taking the future into their own hands. “The climate strike means that young people take climate change and the consequences of our collective inaction to address it seriously,” he said. “It also means that young people realize the urgency of the situation and are going to be demanding that their governments, corporations and institutions take aggressive action.”

Reflecting upon the protest, McCann concluded that the environmental movement relies on the determination of the unified. “People are very willing to invest their time, and they really do care about their future: you just need a spark, a collective,” she said. “Sometimes that’s social media, sometimes a conversation. Perhaps from now on, every Friday we will raise awareness for climate change.”