On Friday, Sept. 24, young people across different countries protested for government action for the ongoing climate crisis. According to Reuters, this was the largest global climate protest since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

A climate activism organization, Fridays for the Future, was responsible for organizing many of the strikes across the world, including the one in Boston. Their website states that their mission is a “struggle for a better future for all; a future where people and the planet are prioritized.”

The University’s commitment to social justice shone through when over 100 Brandeis students participated in the Boston climate strike. Prof. Sabine Von Mering (GRALL) organized for Brandeis to provide transportation for students from the University to the strike, Maggie Del Re ’22 said. “Considering how our world leaders are failing to take action, failing to distribute budgets properly, failing to uplift voices of indigenous activists, failing to listen to our youth and failing to act on scientists' recommendations, it just felt like our duty to be out in the streets,” Aileen Cahill ’23 said.

The protest began at Boston Garden and continued to the Civil War Memorial in Boston Common. The original plan was to march to the state house where speakers would make their remarks, but due to a group of anti-mask mandate protesters, the march was redirected to the Civil War Memorial in Boston Common. Cahill explained that while this wasn’t the original plan, it worked out beautifully because the memorial provided a highly visible location for the speakers. Del Re told the Justice in an  in-person interview on Oct. 2 that being at the strike was energizing and hopeful but also “frustrating because we have been doing it for so long and nothing is changing.” 

The strike was mainly youth-led, according to Del Re. Many of the protesters from the Brandeis community went all-out with costumes and signs. Cahill said that von Mering wore a polar bear costume with signs that read “Defund Line 3.” Brandeis students held large signs, some of which read “Losing Nemo” and “You’ll die of old age, we’ll die of climate change.”

When asked how she sees the future of climate activism, Del Re said that she believes everyone must keep fighting.