Nineteen-year-old Zuzu Schmitke and her friends are drawing a globe using homemade pastel colored chalk in front of the west steps of the Capitol in Sacramento.
“It's a really scary time right now,” said Schmitke, with the youth climate activist group Sunrise Movement Sacramento.
“I think the world needs a little bit of hope and a little bit of art.”
The group is part of Earth Week in Sacramento. It includes a day of fundraising and a 12-hour-long livestream focused on climate change and COVID-19 on Friday. It began Wednesday with a Climate Chalk Out at people’s homes and at places like the Capitol, City Hall, parks, and grocery stores. People will use chalk to share their messages at a safe distance from each other.
The idea came from the group March for Science Sacramento after a big Earth Day event was canceled because of the pandemic.
“If they can do the same thing on their own sidewalks outside their houses or in their local parks while being safe following social distancing guidelines then maybe we can still accomplish this,” said Wes Samms, lead organizer of the group.
People chalking out are encouraged to post their designs on social media using #climatechalkout.
Mikayla Taylor takes a photo of Zuzu Schmitke after they draw chalk art at the sidewalk outside Capitol grounds on Wednesday, April 15, 2020.Andrew Nixon / CapRadio
Mikayla Taylor helped organize the chalk art near the Capitol Wednesday, April 15, 2020. Andrew Nixon / CapRadio
“Our plan is to be chalking out at sunrise, noon and sunset. In the morning at locations that have heavy foot traffic later in the day,” said Mikayla Taylor with Sunrise Movement Sacramento.
“It feels like the thing that I should be doing because I was originally going to be here on the steps of the Capitol with all my community.”
“It's Time To Respect These Youth Voices."
COVID-19 has forced activists across California to organize online and to use technology like video conferencing.
“The youngest on the calls would be like 11 years old. Me and another organizer, Ben, were the oldest on the calls,” said Cesar Aguirre with the Central California Environmental Justice Network.
The Fresno and Kern County group had plans to go on a statewide tour to protest oil and gas extraction “and then the Coronavirus public health scare hit. So we're like, oh my God, what are we going to do now? We still have all of these youth super interested, we still have all of this energy,” said Aguirre.
The group has held webinars and training for youth statewide. During the trainings, Aguirre, 25, says youth decided they wanted to take on big oil.
“A lot of them come from Los Angeles, which is the largest urban oil drilling basin here in California,” said Aguirre. “There's youth from Kern County, which produces 75% of the oil that comes out of California. We want Governor Newsom to focus on not only the climate impacts of this, but how this affects environmental justice communities.”
Now they’re part of a statewide effort called #CaliforniaYouthVsBigOil, because they say 5.4 million Californians live within a mile of an active oil or gas well and that a majority of them are people of color. They say pollution from those wells causes respiratory and other health issues for those that live near them. In response, they want buffer zones between communities and oil wells and an eventual end to oil and gas extraction in California.
“Our communities are getting left behind and we're the ones being hit the hardest,” said Aguirre. “It's time to respect these youth voices.”
‘People’s Lives Have Changed’
Groups in Southern California are also protesting online. Nineteen-year-old Kevin Patel is an activist with Youth Climate Strike Los Angeles.
“I was affected by air pollution and I have respiratory issues,” said Patel. “I'm not an activist because I chose to be one. I have to be one for my community.”
His group is collaborating with other environmental organizations — collectively called MVMT_LA — for a week of online activism. They’re encouraging Calfiornians to write a letter or to call Governor Gavin Newsom and their mayors with a new demand daily.
They’re also encouraging young people to post their messages online about why they strike for the climate. The week ends with a day of prayer on Friday because it’ll be the first full day of Ramadan.
A jogger passes Zuzu Schmitke and Wes Samms as they draw chalk art on the sidewalk next to Capitol grounds on 10th Street in Sacramento Wednesday, April 15, 2020.Andrew Nixon / CapRadio
“We will be hosting teach-ins and educational panels throughout the day and then at 4:00 p.m. we'll be doing a call to action,” said Patel. “Anyone in California can really benefit from participating and learning about what is going on, and learn from people of color who are being affected on the front lines.”
Climate activists are hoping to rally in person again in the future. But they’ve been surprised by how many new people are getting involved. They suspect quarantine life has given young people more time to focus on things that really matter to them.
“This is just another example where we’ve been able to really coordinate actions with California and youth, all throughout California,” said Patel. “I’m really flabbergasted and I don't have words to say how I feel about what's going on. Because of this people's lives have been changed.”
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