By: Anna Dory
“What do we want?” a young man shouts out to a crowd gathered in Old Town Square. “Climate change!” they shout back. “When do we want it?” he asks. “Now!” Hundreds of activists have been gathering every Friday to rally behind climate change reform.
Students from FRCC and CSU will be hosting a climate change strike every Friday from 5:30- 7:00 at the Civic Center in Old Town Fort Collins. Esma Holden is a student activist from FRCC who played a key role in getting these protests together.
She explained that they aspire to cultivate a community of educated activists to not only keep climate change concerns in the spotlight but also to encourage the rest of the community not to be complacent or willfully ignorant about climate change.
These students are hard at work every day reaching out to local activists and refining their own understanding of the scope of climate change issues. They are creating connections and
gathering enough voices and resources to implement large changes in the community.
These burgeoning student activists aim to educate people about an issue Esma referred to as “money in politics” as well as using the American Anti-Corruption Act to hopefully inspire more changes. They are working towards pressuring CSU to make changes that would support more environmentally ethical companies, as well as hold large corporations accountable for their environmental impact.
These protests welcome individuals and companies who wish to share their concerns and their missions.
Esma is starting a club at FRCC she calls “The Represent us Movement”. They will meet every week on Tuesdays and Thursdays (come when you can) from 12:00 pm-2:30 pm, the meeting room is yet to be announced. Feel free to email Esma at Gavincodestoday@gmail.com for more information.
The goal of this new club is to teach soft skills in order to build skilled activists. The club will discuss social issues that are important to them and network with others who have similar concerns. They will practice outreach skills, email skills, event planning skills, and networking skills. This is a “learn by doing” club if there is something you want to change but don’t know where to start this club is designed to teach the skills needed in order to be the most effective champion of progress.