Thank you Youth!

I love seeing these students taking advantage of their free education

That is part of their education!

@Stay in school

Such negativity and derision, inappropriately placed. The planet you've enjoyed will not be so nice to them, thanks to your generation's neglect.

They last did it before the summer break: Web Link

Naturally they support this cause -- it got them out of school. If there were some real personal cost incurred by taking a stand, the situation (and participation level) would be very different.

I remember a co-worker who grew up in Europe, describing a teachers' strike. The kids had no understanding of the labor dispute and they didn't pretend to understand it. But once they realized it meant fewer classes, and that showing "solidarity" with the teachers on the picket line meant getting away entirely from the boring routine of school, into something much more interesting (and different, plus emotionally upbeat), they were Shoulder To Shoulder with the striking teachers and mouthing their slogans, understood or not.

In some school districts, today's walk-out was even officially sanctioned -- a day away from class, counted as non-truant by the school. No wonder all the kids went for it. But given the past history of ideological movements indoctrinating the young before they have the maturity to work things out for themselves, it's a trend at least as disturbing as climate change. (The adults who supported those movements all thought they were doing the right thing, too.)

I hope those who missed class were counted as unexcused absence as they should be. At least that would be a real sacrifice for the cause they espouse.

I agree with @So soon again? in that this is an excellent excuse to take a day from boring classes to do something else, especially since it doesn't require any real sacrifice on their part. I remember my senior year and a teacher strike that resulted in many classmates staying home. Since there was sabotage of school equipment by strikers, I chose to attend class. It wasn't class as usual, but there was learning and growth and I am glad I chose to attend. I doubt the turnout to this event would be as high if they had to spend the day actually doing something about the problem they claim to be concerned about.

Are they willing to lobby for a month at school where they use pencils and paper rather than expend electricity using computers? How about going to clean up a beach or local park for a whole day? Are they willing to give up their cell phones, TVs and cars to reduce the use of fuel? Would they spend the day writing letters to the leaders of China and India to encourage them to collaborate with the US in ecology measures? I doubt it. I suspect there are those who would, but I don't think those kids would be the same ones walking out of class.

Empty gestures that call for no personal sacrifice are easy (especially when it gets you out of school). Doing something that makes a real difference is a lot harder.

Due to repeated violations of our Terms of Use, comments from this poster are automatically removed. Why?

@psr, @sosoonagain:
how long ago were you denying Climate Change? A recent convert, or do you still think it's baloney?

@deny climate change

My comment has nothing to do with a belief in climate change or not. It has to do with the difference between having a belief and doing something about it as opposed to simply complaining about it. My personal beliefs aren't part of the discussion.

psr: thanks (that pretty much answers the question anyway.)

I agree. These kids are doing something. I guess it doesn't meet your idea of perfect action. Too bad.

How did this walk out help to fight a climate change ?
Did they turn ACs off in the empty classrooms? Did they convert CO2 that was produced to deliver them and their teachers to the school back to C2 and O2?
If they marched Saturday, would it make a less impact?

@at sigh
You really shouldn’t assume what generation I come from and if I believe or deny climate change. My post was only towards the fact they took time out of their classes to go demonstrate.

It wasn’t that long ago that as a local high school student I boarded a chartered bus to Sacramento to protest against teachers low wages. We didn’t know what we were doing other than knowing that teachers should be paid more but it meant a day off of school which was nice.

In the real world, if you call your boss saying you’re not coming into work to protest, guess what, they’ll replace you with someone that can get the job done.

So if there is a lesson to be learned today, it’s to @sigh, don’t assume and don’t try to attack someone from behind a keyboard

The deniers are having fits because these kids are smarter than them.

And are proving it by marching.

Oh, but the AC is still on at school!!!

As a fellow student who was part of the protest, I would like to bring light into what actually happens during these events. These kind of protests requires time and a lot of energy from the teachers and students to stay, IN THEIR OWN TIME, to put together posters, being fellow advocates, and perform poems and speeches for everyone around the community to bring attention. We do not get an excused for these events, and it’s at your own risk. This was an idea from a school funded club that explores different strategies to being awareness to the growing effects of climate change and the policies around it. We do it on school days because just like many people around the world, it brings attention to the “government” that supposedly cares about our education. Just like our friend “stay in school” or “psr” why don’t you do something about our on growing crisis in school debt? What’s the right way to get attention sir? We can protest on Saturday, Sunday, Friday nights, but I hope your there too. Because if it bugs you so much to think students just do it to miss school then you should damn well be doing something to keep us there. I have no doubt many just wanted to spend a good time outside of school for a whole day, but you have to realize it was for more then just a “good cause”. It was for an important one. And we will damn do it again until something changes. @stayinschool. @ok. @psr. @sosoonagain?

@stayinschool. @ok. @psr. @sosoonagain?

I am a student who missed school for this strike. Not because I wanted to party or ditch class, as you ignorantly proposed. When you were a student, times were different. Kids were not empowered or told they could make a change, or told that the uniting together would make a difference. TIMES HAVE CHANGED!

We are facing an emergency, and we are racing the clock. The adults in power have chosen to be selfish and leave my generation with the consequences, so here we are in 2019-the children must act like leaders. Maybe if you had cared about the climate when you were a student, we wouldn't be in this situation.

As a student, I can attest to the fact that every single one of us missed something important to be at City Hall. A test, a quiz, a meeting. We made the conscious decision to prioritize the planet and our futures over a day in school. I am sorry if that inconveniences you in some way, but watch out- we won't stop until the idiots in office decide to act like adults.

How many of our students have drunk the kool aid? Such silly thinking w arrogance.

the youth are striking because the climate situation calls for a dramatic system change, and we can no longer save the world by playing by the rules. If older generations won't listen to our suggestions on how to repair the damages THEY caused to our planet, we will make the world listen. Please don't shame us and call us irresponsible for missing one day of school because you are angry that teenagers care about the environment. thanks!

"Student on Strike" wrote: "TIMES HAVE CHANGED! We are facing an emergency, and we are racing the clock... Maybe if you had cared about the climate when you were a student..."

You assume that none of us did -- and that times are so different now.

Take a look at some climate "emergencies" you probably haven't heard about and think about just how much "times have changed." Below is one headline collection (of many). Serious climate predictions, each quoting authoritative exerts, taken very seriously. Ask your club and teachers why these cases aren't being studied, and compared, to gain more insight into what really is different now (and a lot is different, but some things aren't).

1967 (Los Angeles Times): "Dire famine by 1975." Web Link

1969 (NY Times): "Everyone will disappear in a cloud of blue steam by 1989." Web Link

1970 (Boston Globe): "Ice age by 2000." Web Link

1970: "America subject to water rationing by 1974 and food rationing by 1980." Web Link

More, without links:

1971 (Washington Post): "New Ice Age Coming"

1972 (letter by climate scientists to US President): "New ice age by 2070"

1974 (The Guardian, London): "New Ice Age Coming Fast"

1974 (TIME Magazine): "Another Ice Age?"

1974: Ozone Depletion a "Great Peril to Life" [Discredited by NASA data, 2017]

1976 (NY Times): "The Cooling"

1978 (NY Times): "No End in Sight" to 30-Year Cooling Trend [Discredited by NASA data, 2019]

1980: "Acid Rain Kills Life in Lakes" [Discredited 1990 by congressionally-ordered 10-year study]

1988: James Hansen forecasts Midwestern drought in 1990s [Discredited by NOAA data; recent years record-wet. Hansen is the scientist credited with popularizing "Greenhouse Effect" 30 years ago.]

1988 (Hansen again): Washington-DC 90+ degree days to increase from 35 to 85 annually [Actual number of hot days in Washington peaked in 1911 and have been declining ever since]

1988 (Agence-France Press): Maldives completely under water in 30 years

1989 (Associated Press): UN: Rising seas could "obliterate" nations by 2000

1989 (Hansen prediction): New York City’s West Side Highway underwater by 2019

2000 (The Independent): "Snowfalls are now just a thing of the past."

2002 (The Guardian): "Famine in 10 years"

2004 (The Guardian): Britain to have Siberian climate by 2020

2008 (Associated Press): Hansen says Arctic will be ice-free by 2018

2008: Al Gore warns of ice-free Arctic by 2013

2009 (The Independent): Prince Charles says only 8 years to save the planet

2009 (The Independent): UK prime minister says 50 days left to "save the planet from catastrophe"

2009 (USA Today): Gore says polar ice cap may disappear by summer 2014

2013 (The Guardian): Arctic to be ice-free by 2015 due to thawing methane

2013 (The Guardian): Arctic to be ice-free by 2016

2014 (Washington Examiner): French Foreign Minister predicts only 500 days before "climate chaos"

[Valuable tips to students: First, don't do the clueless thing and assume "That was back then. Now we're modern and informed." What do you suppose people thought about that very point, in earlier years??? And, don't listen to people who try to steer you away from information like this by attacking the source, telling you what to think, etc. READ FOR YOURSELF. You'll be way ahead of your peers, and even some of your teachers, and you may accomplish great things.]

"the youth are striking because the climate situation calls for a dramatic system change, and we can no longer save the world by playing by the rules. If older generations won't listen to our suggestions on how to repair the damages THEY caused to our planet, we will make the world listen. Please don't shame us and call us irresponsible for missing one day of school because you are angry that teenagers care about the environment. thanks!"

Such arrogance from our youth. What are they teaching in school. Clearly not critical thinking. I wonder if Vegas is posting odds on all this nonsense. .

@ So soon again?,

Good for you to take the time and write all this out.

I have toyed with the idea myself, many of these stories start at the 1960 time frame, but I said why waste my time. It would be just like talking to the wind.

What these kids are going thru is brain washing for a political agenda, to have a central government run the entire economy, and change the standard of living that has made America the envy of the world, to just one of the other 3 third world countries. So Sad.

What these so called adults are doing around these children is consider child abuse, in my opinion.

It's fitting that none of the actual links "So soon again?" posts match the article they claim it is. On top of that, it's clear they haven't read any of the other ones, as a random sampling show that the content of them are either conservative publications mocking climate change or actual newspapers discussing the science. It's the usual climate change denier's game, and it's exactly what's left these kids holding the bag.

Oh, that explains it: their giant post is just some copy-paste chain going around conservative circles. Boomers never fail to be hilariously disappointing, pretending the chain letters they read are "research."

Dude, you are the ultimate illegal.

You have been banned here but you do not respect the rules and you keep coming back.

What are you talking about? Try making sense some time, it'll help you communicate. Although, calling someone "the ultimate illegal" definitely tells everyone plenty about you.

Geez, a list of links to old media stories that don't even reference peer reviewed studies - that the best ya got?

Students: ever wonder how to stop the deniers from posting their drivel? I learned these from another thread.

Lesson #1, for students, follows...

Provide a link to the 4th national climate assessment and the bodies that produced it:
Department of the Interior
Department of Energy
U.S. Global Change Research Program
Department of Health and Human Services
U.S. Agency for International Development
Smithsonian Institution
Department of Commerce
Department of Defense
Department of Agriculture
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Department of Energy
Department of Transportation
Environmental Protection Agency
Department of the Interior
Department of State
National Science Foundation
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
U.S. Geological Survey

Add in:
Texas Tech University
University of Washington
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
University of Illinois
Rutgers University
North Carolina State University
Texas A&M University
Columbia University
University of California, Irvine
University of Massachusetts
California Department of Water Resources
... and many, many more.
Google: "FOURTH NATIONAL CLIMATE ASSESSMENT" for links and much, much, more.



Lesson #2: ask deniers why they disagree with the:
Department of the Interior
Department of Energy
Department of Health and Human Services
Smithsonian Institution
Department of Commerce
Department of Defense
Department of Agriculture
Department of Energy
Department of Transportation
Department of the Interior
Department of State
National Science Foundation
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
U.S. Geological Survey

etc...


Lesson #3: enjoy the crickets.

Wrong Again: 50 Years of Failed Eco-pocalyptic Predictions.


Here you go, more stories from the past, including scientists and Universities, etc,

Web Link

How sorry is it that a poster, So Soon, has to like his own post, 30 times, all by himself. Sad for you dude.

Just one article printed in 1971, saying the very same thing today about fossil fuels, except one different thing about the outcome.

U.S SCIENTISTS SEE NEW ICE AGE COMING.

Web Link

Here is a bit of this article,

"Dr. S. I Rasool of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and Columbia University says that, In the next 50 years," this was written on July 9, 1971, "the fine dust that man constantly puts into the atmosphere by fossil fuel-burning, could screen out so much sunlight that the average temperature could drop by six degrees."


These same stories you hear today, have been repeated for the last 60 years, yet what is different today is that this is a political movement coming from the Democrat Party, who now are running outright on Socialism. The way for them to take over and control the entire economy is by creating this FALSE CRISIS, saying we have to act or else.

History repeats itself people, do not be so gullible and do some research yourself. Look at who is making these dire predictions, then look into who and how much money are they getting to say this.

You realize that's just a variant of the list that person copy-pasted, right?

I can't fathom that anyone would care about likes on the Mountain View Voice, but I guess you're real salty that people liked my post and not yours.

Oh my god, you dove right into the "socialism" boogeyman. You Boomers are a trip.

I am a mother of a Monta Vista high schooler and a young homeschooled child. We came to the event with another friend and a dog Dressed as a butterfly. I want to post about the original “news” story covering the event. The story lacked detail and clarity. It down played the event. There were many more students and adults at the event than reported. There were at least 25-30 young school aged children and another 10-20 teens at the event not listed in the story. In addition the group of people that joined the even from the train station were in the hundreds. It was a group of people that joined a posting listed on strike.org that a 44 year old man started and organized. I was disappointed in this community news paper for doing such a poor, inaccurate, down played account of the strike. It’s abysmal, biased reporting.

My child took most of the day off from school to come to the strike, and it was a very hard choice for her to make, as I am sure it was for the other children. None of the children there are legally allowed to have excused absences. My child had to miss a group presentation she had planned for lit and was a hard choice for her. I think it is an easy choice: be part of a historical moment and movement to save ourselves with air to breath and food to eat in your life time or be placid and checked out and not have food to eat in 60 years. But for my daughter it was hard to turn away from her peers that are not participating and get marked as absent. All of the kids that went chose to be brave and stand up for what they believe in. Sadly they were not the majority in this area they were the minority (unlike other cities). They did it even though the majority of their peers were not. Adults are always telling teens to stand up to peer pressure. Do you only tell them that when it aligns with what you think is right?

Competitive Enterprise Institute links?

You realize that's a lot of big oil and Koch money, right? You should be asking Exxon for a stipend for all of the extraction industry drivel you regurgitate for them.

What a tool.

What do you have against the United States Department of Commerce, Department of Defense, Department of Agriculture and Department of Energy? You believe oil money before you believe the American Military? Now I have to question your patriotism.

Putin sending stipends also?

> what is different today is that this is a political movement coming from the Democrat Party, who now are running outright on Socialism. ... this FALSE CRISIS

The United States Department of Defense called, and said you're wrong. They want to know who are you working for...

Web Link

The "Democrat (sic/sign of stupidity) Party" runs the DoD? The Democratic Party runs The Department of Energy? They run Commerce?

It's Sunday morning - put the koolaid away until next weekend - you need to dry out for awhile.

It seems the students replying in this thread learned about the climate change but they did not learn about respecting people who pays for their education.

"So soon" wrote: "none of the actual links match the article [I claimed] ... it's clear [I didn't] read any of the other ones ... [my] giant post is just some copy-paste chain going around conservative circles."

Reality: as Mary McCarthy once put it, every word posted there is a lie, including "and" and "the."

(1) All links go to articles headlined just as I summarized. Some are in archive sites requiring pay to see the actual text. But you can also view the relevant articles directly, reproduced in the source I link below. I'd have included all 28 links, by the way, but I think Town Square limits links per post. (2) Of course I read the actual stories, even if "So soon" didn't. (A habit of misrepresenting facts doesn't warrant projecting that habit onto others.) (3) I know nothing of any "chain" and I didn't "copy-paste" the list intact. I heard of this list on the news, found the original on CEI just as "Some more stuff 4 U" has since posted -- Web Link -- and copied the headlines individually while reading the stories -- editing each headline (for punctuation marks acceptable to the Voice-website character set, which is limited; also, sometimes to paraphrase for clarity). That too would be obvious in any careful reading.

Fifty years of MAINSTREAM-media stories quoting experts predicting climate/ecology disasters -- unfailingly wrong. (Also, seldom if ever followed up as such in the same media.) That they appeared as I cited is beyond controversy or petty quibbles -- anyone can check for themselves.

That some people try to misrepresent, or to impugn those today who cite, this information (pointers to real stories in sources like NY Times and Associated Press, so take it up with those media if you don't like the stories), or try to distract readers with what-about-ism games, reveals their desperation to suppress actual inconvenient truths.

> reveals their desperation to suppress actual inconvenient truths.

What about the US Dept of Defense? Dept of Energy? NASA?

Do you value their research less than the blogger who posts on a Koch funded website?

...

btw: your blogger said in 2004: “[A]s previous studies have concluded, the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets are probably thickening rather than melting.”

Well, there ya go. As you said:

"Look at who is making these dire predictions, then look into who and how much money are they getting to say this."

Your blogger gets his money from Exxon. Want to see his quote on that too? He just loves that Exxon money.