Sophie Sonnenfeld Photos
Hundreds of New Haveners flooded the Green Friday evening for a “March Against Climate Death For A Safe Future’ and then a “die-in” on the steps of City Hall.
The event was organized by youth activists from the New Haven Climate Movement. They planned the protest to coincide with thousands of other climate strikes across the world.
The same organizers from the New Haven Climate Movement held community meetings and rallies in Fair Haven and on the New Haven Green throughout the summer to gain support for a Climate Emergency Resolution submitted to the Board of Alders. Student activists along with experts in engineering, public health, and environmental law and science testified before alders on the alders’ City Services and Environmental Policy Committee (CSEP) in August, and the resolution declaring New Haven in a state of climate emergency passed unanimously before a full Board of Alders meeting in September.
The resolution calls for the creation of a Climate Emergency Mobilization Task Force and an aim to end community-wide greenhouse gas emissions by Dec. 31, 2030.
“The strike is to make sure the city is following through with the promises in the climate emergency resolution as well as to mourn the losses we have suffered due to climate change.” Adrian Huq (pictured), a senior at Metropolitan Business Academy, said of Friday’s event.
Protesters gathered on the corner of Church and Chapel street and made stops at each corner of the Green as they marched to the steps of City Hall. At each stop, the organizers planted a cardboard tombstone and spoke about transportation, food and agriculture, climate displacement, and climate justice.
Organizer Catalina Homann (pictured), a junior at Wilbur Cross, got involved with the New Haven Climate Movement in June when she signed in support of the climate resolution at the Arts and Ideas Festival.
At the second stop on the march, Homann spoke about how climate change damages food and agriculture: “Innocent people in other countries are suffering because of our choices.”
“Of course New Haven can’t solve climate change alone, but we can all work to combat climate change full on by fighting for a safer community and speaking up for those whose voices are not being heard,” she said.
Fellow student activist and event organizer Kiana Flores (pictured), a junior at Co-op High School, spoke about climate displacement: “It is morally wrong to ignore climate change because it’s real, and it’s here, and it will affect everyone.”
Yale student Kazemi Adachi (pictured) spoke on behalf of the Yale Endowment Justice Coalition. “Yale is complicit. Despite the university’s insistence for ethical investments, Yale still invests in fossil fuels,” Adachi said.
Adachi helped lead a mob of over a hundred Yale students who marched across the Green to meet protesters with the New Haven Climate Movement before the official March Against Climate Death.
Gabriella Germain spoke about transportation at the first stop on the march. Germain, a junior at Sacred Heart Academy, is president of the school’s Earth Club. With the Earth Club, she worked to get recycling bins on campus last year. She said her next project is eliminating the styrofoam plates and plastic utensils Sacred Heart’s cafeteria uses every day for lunch.
Gabriella Germain (left), Alexa Davidson, Emily Graves, Siobhan Ekeh (right), and Kristine Roy.
Four of Germain’s friends attended the rally. “Youth involvement is so important because we know this is our fight for our future.” Sacred Heart student Siobhan Ekeh said.
Protesters were encouraged to wear black and march in silence as if they were in a funeral procession in order to mourn death and destruction caused by climate change. “We want to be clear about the cause of this death — it’s greed, it’s the fossil fuel industry, it’s apathy, and it’s the money controlling our elected officials” said Huq.
Once the procession reached City Hall, protesters chanted, “Hey hey/ ho ho/ climate change has got to go!,” as they blocked traffic on Church street and spilled onto the Green. The die-in began with 27 drum beats which Huq said was meant to represent the 27 years of failure to act since the 1992 global climate meeting. The organizers called for a moment of silence as they sat and linked arms on the steps of City Hall. Hundreds of protesters lay down, kneeled, or sat on the sidewalk and the road while Church street stood still.
IV Staklo (left) and Kiyo Kohchi link arms at the die in.
New Haven activist and Connecticut Party for Socialism and Liberation organizer IV Staklo said they came to the protest because the New Haven Climate Movement invited them to attend in a show of solidarity between organizations.
“Anyone who cares about economic justice or racial justice has to care about fighting climate change,” Staklo said. “Coordinated efforts like this which are often led by young people bring attention to how issues intersect and hopefully people in power will listen now and help us create change.”
After the die-in, each New Haven Climate Movement organizer approached a cardboard coffin prop and dropped in a piece of paper with a word that needs to die in order to stop climate change. Their words included “silence,” “apathy,” “ignorance,” “greed,” and “CO2 emissions.”
New Haven Climate Movement organizers and high school student activists said they want to keep the momentum going and are working on another strike for early October. “But if we’re going to organize an event for October, we’re going to need more help” said organizer Bayu Adji.
Student activists Julia Kosinski (left), Alissa Boutviseth, Kiana Flores, Bayu Adji, Keily Aguirre, Vanessa Rivillin, and Karina Rosario.
The New Haven Climate Movement started planning this event in late May. Adji and other event organizers said they would like to see Hillhouse, Career, Common Ground High School students and even college students getting involved with the New Haven Climate Movement this year.
If we continue business as usual, the ocean will be lapping at that corner of the Green a hundred years from now.