John,
The moment has come. Tomorrow, millions of people in 150+ countries around the world will strike to demand politicians start treating the climate crisis like the emergency it is.
Join the global climate strike. Check out the map of 650+ climate strike events in the US to find one near you.
For my whole life -- from the moment I first learned the words “climate change” and felt my childlike sense of security in the world start to break, to now as I sit writing this email -- I have lived with so much fear of this crisis and anger at the fossil fuel CEOs who caused it and politicians who failed to stop it.
I know you’ve felt that fear and anger, too. And I’m sure you’ve had moments when you felt alone in those feelings, and when you had to hold them in.
But tomorrow, the floodgates are opening. Millions of people around the world are walking out of school and work and taking to the streets to tell our political leaders that we will not wait one day longer: we need our politicians to start treating this crisis like the emergency it is, now.
And I know that we can succeed in getting real change, because it’s happened before. 50 years ago, on the first ever Earth Day, 20 million people marched in the streets to demand action to protect the environment. That one day of protest launched a wave of mobilizations that pushed politicians to create the Environmental Protection Agency and to pass the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts.
That is why I can tell you with confidence that if we strike in record numbers tomorrow, we can begin to push politicians at every level of government to sound the alarm. We can usher in the era of the Green New Deal.
It won’t happen overnight. I can tell you right now that this won’t be our last strike. But tomorrow is the day that will start the flood, and once the gates are open, they can’t be shut.
When politicians see tomorrow that millions of people in every corner of the globe are ready to drop everything and go on strike to demand a Green New Deal, they will understand that our movement is a united force that will not stop fighting and cannot be ignored.
Tomorrow, our movement is making history. Will you stand with us? Join the global climate strike.
See you in the streets.
Varshini Prakash
