STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK
Wood River Valley residents plan to join others around the globe in staging an hour-long climate strike rally on Friday, Sept. 20.
The event, organized by the Hailey Climate Action Coalition and a group of local concerned students, will take place from noon to 1 p.m. outside the old County Court House on Hailey’s 1st Avenue.
Participants are encouraged to bring climate action signs to take part in a four-block march along Hailey’s Main Street following speeches.
More than 3,500 demonstrations are slated to be held around the globe, including 800 in the United States.
Their goal: To call on government leaders and industries to get rid of fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal, replacing them with such renewable sources as wind and solar by mid-century.
“Our house is on fire—let’s act like it,” said a statement by Global Climate Strike organizers. “Scientists agree we have about 10 years to save our communities, future generations and the planet from extreme natural disasters.”
There is still a chance to meet the 2015 Paris climate accord’s goal of keeping global temperatures from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, by 2100, according to a report released last year by an United Nations science panel.
But achieving this number, which represents an increase in temperature compared with pre-industrial times, would require drastic measures.
“Solutions have been identified. If we band together and create the political, corporate and cultural will, we have the collective power to make these solutions inevitable. All it takes is every one of us acting in unison to create change,” said Gretchen Basen, a member of the Hailey Climate Action Coalition.
Friday’s protests were spurred in part by the activism of Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg, who has spent this past year staging weekly demonstrations she’s dubbed “Fridays for the future.” She will address a U.N. climate summit in New York on Monday.
Organizers of Friday’s strike have planned a second one for Sept. 27, in hopes of sustaining a continuous effort.