“I Love The Planet Because … ”

Young climate activists gathered at City Hall to deliver love letters to the planet — and to press city government to up its care for the environment.

Members of New Haven Climate Movement (NHCM) gathered on the front steps of 165 Church St. Tuesday for ​“Cocoa, Cards, and Climate Action,” an annual Valentine’s Day-themed event now in its third year running. 

The Earth love-letters the group collected were from students at Wilbur Cross High School, Cooperative Arts and Humanities High School, Hopkins School and Yale.

Tuesday’s action took place three-and-a-half years after the alders unanimously passed a climate emergency resolution which called on New Haven to achieve zero carbon pollution by 2030. The young activists showed up to City Hall to try to keep city government honest on that commitment.

The event’s emcee, Wilbur Cross High School senior Lila Kleppner, started off with a short speech on NHCM’s initiatives, including a planned Fridays For Future march scheduled for March 3. She also said that the group recently met with the mayor and gave him a list of climate resolutions, including a call for the city to cut its fossil-fuel consumption by 25 percent by 2025.

Manxi Han, a 15-year-old freshman at Wilbur Cross, was the first to read a Valentine’s card on Tuesday. Manxi serves as an intern in NHCM’s Youth Climate Action Team (YCAT), which is working on pushing the Board of Education to act on climate-friendly initiatives in line with its own adopted climate emergency resolution. Manxi is currently working on getting students, teachers, staff and administrators to fill out a survey on how best to put in place environmentally friendly school transportation options.

She said that her pursuit of climate justice comes from wanting to set an example for others and inspiring action among young New Haveners. 

“A lot of people think that it’s the politicians and other adults who make the big decisions and who can create real change, but I don’t think that that is true,” she said. ​“The young people also have a voice. They can also create change and I think it’s important for us to inspire other people to also take a stand and share their voice with everyone.”

Manxi then read her Valentine’s Day card: ​“I love the planet because it hold life. It’s the whole and I want to see climate solutions that improve health and increase jobs.”

Hopkins students Lucy Lu and Natalie Card read their Valentine’s Day cards next. 

“I love the planet because it is beautiful and it’s my home and it’s full of life that I want to protect. I want to see climate solutions that produce jobs like making schools recycle and having more accessibility to locally farmed foods instead of relying on factory farms,” Lu read. 

“I love the planet because I love taking walks in the park, feeling the fresh breeze of a crisp spring day on my face,” Card read. ​“I want to see climate solutions that improve health and increase jobs like renewable energy sources being used in New Haven, fossil fuels being eliminated, public transportation being made more available, climate education in schools and climate staff being hired.”

After reading aloud the cards on the front steps of City Hall, the young climate activists then went inside the building to drop the cars off. That’s where they ran into Fair Haven Alder Ernie Santiago, who happily accepted his cards and gave the group an approving thumbs up.