People’s Climate Change rally impacted students
October 16, 2014
“Hey! Obama! We don’t want no climate drama! Hey! Obama!” the crowd chants to the tune of a bongo, walking down the streets of the crowded New York City. Among the chanters are students Noah Heie, Zach Benevento Zahner, and Seth Bontrager. The boys and several other locals participated in the rally and came home with a life-changing experience.
“It was going to be the largest climate change rally ever, and we wanted to show our support,” sophomore Benevento-Zahner said. Over three hundred thousand people packed into the already crowded city of New York- 400,000 by some accounts. Among the more notable supporters were soccer player Messi and actor Leonardo Dicaprio.
“It’s really important for us to go. If we don’t support it our future is gonna suck,” Benevento-Zahner explained. The rally was held on the day before a UN meeting that was going to discuss the topic of climate change. People came out to show how much they supported the cause, and the good of their climate.
“I met a lot of cool people. I met this guy with really cool dreads who was just walking around, traveling around the world. He was just walking around New York barefoot, and he was really cool. I met Peter Yarrow, of Peter, Paul, and Mary. He’s like ninety and his voice doesn’t sound as good as it used to, but It was still really cool,” junior Heie said.
The Harrisonburg group of people marched from Seventy-Second street, around Central Park, through Times Square, and ended up by the river. The Harrisonburg group returned at around 4:30 the next morning, just in time for the students to get up and come to school.
“I really enjoyed it. It was crazy to see so many people standing up for a good cause,” sophomore Bontrager said. Despite the early rising time, the rally proved educational.
“I’m more aware of things than I was before I went. I always thought of pollution as planes and cars and stuff, but cows make a lot as well. Because we consume so much beef, we have a lot of cows that are making a lot of pollution. It’s not just machines, it’s eating an excessive amount of meat as well,” Heie said.
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