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'Time is running out': Suburban students join in global climate strike

Suburban young people joined in rallies from Arlington Heights to Naperville Friday as part of a youth-led movement across the globe calling on world leaders to confront climate change with heightened urgency.

Climate strike protesters used poignant signs and slam poetry to express their fears about a warming planet and their frustration with government inaction.

Mohini Shanker, a senior at Waubonsie Valley High School in Aurora, used headlines.

For a demonstration along the Naperville Riverwalk, she covered a homemade poster with dire news reports about the "climate catastrophe," deforestation in the Amazon and rising sea levels caused by global warming.

"I think that this is the biggest movement of its kind and the fact that it's intergenerational - it's not just youth, it's not just adults, everyone is coming together," she said, "it means something, and it means that time is running out."

The protest movement spread to 150 countries Friday, growing from a wave of school walkouts inspired by 16-year-old Greta Thunberg, a Swedish activist who called for a coordinated global climate strike ahead of the United Nations' Climate Action Summit on Monday.

Thousands of students skipped class and took to the streets in Chicago. In Arlington Heights, about 50 students walked out of John Hersey High School at 10 a.m. After 10 or 15 minutes, they marched back into school.

"I'm really behind students rallying for change, because we're the ones most affected by climate change," Hersey senior Mary Renner said. "It's going to have the most impact on our politicians when they see that the people most affected by climate change are actually doing something about it and are using their voices for something good."

Progressive groups and environmental activists sponsored the Friday afternoon gathering in Naperville. Samantha Wigfall, another Waubonsie senior, channeled youth empowerment into her sign: "Seas are rising. So are we."

"The younger generation is kind of saying this is really important to us, and we're going to be here for a long time, and we care about what our children have and what we have to inherit," she said.

But the crowd of roughly 100 spanned generations.

"I am striking because I have little children, because I work with children, and I look in their faces every day, and I feel like we are failing them as adults," said Alison Squires, a Sugar Grove mom and the chairwoman of Progressives of Kane County.

Northern Illinois University student Nikki Banigan left her job early in a DeKalb County town to drive to Naperville in her partial zero-emissions vehicle. What should lawmakers do?

"Stop subsidizing fossil fuel and start transitioning toward renewable energy," the 22-year-old said.

With their voting power, other teens said they will remain focused on global warming issues.

"I'm starting to try to be more active in politics and try to understand what's going on around me because I'm going to be voting next year," Waubonsie senior Preethi Navalpakkam said. "And that's a huge step that I have to make sure I'm making the right decisions that will impact me and everyone around me."

• Daily Herald photographer Bev Horne contributed to this report.

Suburban students joining Greta's global climate strike movement this week

  People crowd the Oliver Hoffman Pavilion on the Naperville Riverwalk on Friday as part of the coordinated global climate strike rally held ahead of the United Nations' Climate Action Summit. John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com
  John Hersey High School students gather Friday for a climate strike at the school in Arlington Heights. Bev Horne/bhorne@dailyherald.com
  John Hersey High School students host a Friday climate strike at the school in Arlington Heights. Bev Horne/bhorne@dailyherald.com
  John Hersey High School sophomores Andre Pikodskay, left, and Emily Popa take part in a Friday climate strike at the school in Arlington Heights. Bev Horne/bhorne@dailyherald.com
  John Hersey High School senior Mary Renner participates in a Friday climate strike at the school in Arlington Heights. "I'm really behind students rallying for change, because we're the ones most affected by climate change," she said. Bev Horne/bhorne@dailyherald.com
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