Highlighting Number of Years Left to Save Earth, Greta Thunberg Joins 11-Minute Die-In Outside White House

13/09/19
Author: 
Jake Johnson
Greta Thunberg joined dozens of youth climate activists for a rally outside the White House on Friday, September 13, 2019. (Photo: Defend Our Future/Twitter)

"We're seeing entire communities being decimated by the climate crisis. That's why we strike here today, that's why we strike here every Friday."

September 13, 2019

A week ahead of the planned youth-led global climate strikes, 16-year-old environmentalist Greta Thunberg rallied with other young activists outside the White House Friday to protest the Trump administration's fossil fuel agenda and demand that world leaders take transformative action to avert ecological catastrophe.

"We're seeing natural disasters happening on every corner of the planet," youth organizer Jerome Foster II told the crowd of dozens of student climate strikers at the protest. "We're seeing entire communities being decimated by the climate crisis. That's why we strike here today, that's why we strike here every Friday."

"Our future is a right," Foster added.

Thunberg arrived at the rally shortly after it began, joining the crowd in chants demanding climate action.

 

.⁦@GretaThunberg⁩ quietly chanting and really seems to be trying to just be part of the crowd here

 
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march to The White House led by @GretaThunberg is heating up!

“SHOW ME WHAT DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE! THIS IS WHAT DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE!”

“NO MORE COAL, NO MORE OIL, KEEP THAG CARBON IN THE SOIL!”

“THE YOUTH, UNITED, WILL NEVER BE DIVIDED!”

 
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See video here.

 

 

Demonstrators then marched to the White House and held an 11-minute die-in to highlight the number of years left to reduce carbon emissions in line with targets set by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

 

Protestors behind White House doing an 11-minute “mass extinction” or die-in to represent years left to massively limit emissions.

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The White House rally comes one week before millions of people in over 150 countries are expected to take to the streets on Sept. 20 for what organizers say could be the largest climate action in history.

"This is not a one-time action," said one student activist during Friday's demonstration. "We will be here week after week demanding action, and I encourage you to come out there with us."

 

Amazing and inspiring pics from the weekly with @GretaThunberg & many other young people - who are doing it in front of the White House this week!

View image on TwitterView image on TwitterView image on TwitterView image on Twitter

Thunberg, whose activism inspired the youth-led Fridays for Future movement and the global strikes, arrived in the U.S. last month after two weeks of sailing across the Atlantic.

The 16-year-old activist has not had kind words for President Donald Trump since her arrival. "My message to him is just to listen to the science, and he obviously doesn't do that," Thunberg told reporters last month.

[Top photo: Greta Thunberg joined dozens of youth climate activists for a rally outside the White House on Friday, September 13, 2019. (Photo: Defend Our Future/Twitter)]