On Friday March 25^th at 12 noon, a crowd of students from schools throughout county gathered at Capitol Lake alongside supporters and marched to Olympia City Hall. The Thurston County students held their strike as part of a Global Youth Strike and Day of Action, in association with the Fridays for the Future Campaign. The march was filled with song and chants of “Action or Extinction!” and “Hey, Hey, Ho, Ho, Fossil Fuels Have Got to Go!” At City Hall the crowd heard testimonies from youth from four different local high schools, sharing their hope, fear, and determination around the climate crisis and their futures on planet earth. They came with a demand that the jurisdictions and the county implement more of the items in the Thurston Climate Mitigation Plan (TCMP), highlighting that in the year since the plan has passed only one of the 73 items in it has been acted upon.

The students from climate clubs involved in our Youth Education Community Outreach (YECO) Action Group have begun discussing how they will keep up the pressure, so stay tuned for future youth led actions! We’ll make sure you know how you can come out and support these local climate leaders.
If you were not able to make it to the strike, check out some of the recordings of the speeches given at City Hall!