Climate strikes have been occurring all over the globe to force policy makers to face the facts that the world is in a serious ecological crisis.
Franklin University Switzerland, as an institution, is always encouraging students to think globally and this past September 28, 2019 that was more prevalent than ever. Seventeen students, accompanied by Franklin Faculty Hale and Della Croce, attended the global climate strike in Bern, along with over 100,000 other activists, and demanded action to be taken on climate change, just weeks before a federal election in which the issue is topping voters' concerns.
Earlier in the week, students gathered in the science lab to make signs that they could hold at the march with slogans such as, “Climate change is killing our future,” “We can’t drink oil. We can’t Breathe $$. Water is life, save our planets lungs,” and “Planet before profit.”
As remarked by Pauline Thompson, a senior from China and the United States, who worked on the Environmental Studies Capstone 2019 to develop a climate action plan aiding Franklin to become more carbon neutral, “I am participating in this strike because I am tired of people turning a blind eye and saying, ‘oh somebody else will deal with it.’ The problem of climate change is becoming very real, and if we keep pushing it to later generations there will be no earth left to protect. Actions speak louder than words.”
Professor Hale, who has done extensive research on sustainable tourism specifically revolving around greenhouse gas emissions, said Bern itself “was a wonderful, upbeat and positive atmosphere. Everybody was smiling, dancing, singing and chanting, and I left with a little more hope” - hope that students can see that the issues they learn about in class extend beyond the classroom walls as “they also have an opportunity to do something about it.”
Franklin’s campus has always been fervent with student action and this past Saturday that energy transcended itself to Bern.