Tomorrow, HRWC will strike for climate. We will strike in solidarity with the youth of this country whose very life depends on the decisions we make on climate change now. Their demands are simple: we need to ensure we have a planet that can sustain the human race. These statements are dramatic but not hyperbolic. The evidence is undeniable and we would be reckless to ignore it. The young people of this country understand this best because they know they have to live with the implications of our actions and inactions today.
The river is not immune either. As temperatures rise, we run the risk of losing species that rely on cooler water temperatures to survive. And we run a higher risk of drought, which will bring dangerously low water levels, denying our less-mobile species the habitat and dissolved oxygen necessary to survive. As our snowfall and rainfall patterns change, we are seeing abnormal conditions in the river, threatening systems that evolved to adapt and survive in this area. When you occasionally push a strong system outside its limits, it will recover. If you do this over and over again, on a system already weakened by pollution, dams and urbanization, and other assaults, “bouncing back” is far less likely. We will lose resilience. We will lose a recognizable river.
Please consider joining us. Demand more from our politicians. Demand more from our corporations. Demand more from individuals. As an organization, HRWC is committed to meeting the demands of the strikers in what we do and how we do it. We need to meet the climate crisis with a response equal to, or greater than, its cry. The youth of this country deserve it. The river deserves it. You deserve it.
See you at Ingalls Mall in Ann Arbor or wherever your climate strike location is, this Friday, at noon.
#WCClimateStrike #StrikeWithUs
For more details on the Washtenaw County strike, go to https://actonclimate.net
To find a location near you, go to the US Climate Strike site here
For more information about HRWC’s climate work, see the video below and go here.