Climate Spotlight: Fridays for Future
Fridays for Future was founded by Greta Thunberg in 2018. That same year I learned that teens, like myself, can take part in advocating initiatives that would impact our future. Fridays For Future consists of marches on Fridays and lobbies for vital bills to be passed. FFF allows anyone to join the fight for their future, no experience needed!
In the NYC chapter, new activities and programs are being organized for the 2021 year. A new program that they are working on is the Youth Adopt-A-District (scroll down for more details) for the “Earth Bill”. Fridays for Future has partnered with Climate Crisis Policy Digest. The Earth Bill is a compilation of multiple legislations, in one. This includes legislation related to health, energy, and agriculture. The best partー“it would effectively prevent any future federal administration from reversing the policy”.
The Earth Bill includes the following:
Agriculture Resilience Act
American Innovation & Manufacturing Leadership Act
Break Free from Plastic Pollution Act
Climate Stewardship Act
End Polluter Welfare Act
Environmental Justice for All Act
Farm System Reform Act
Food & Agribusiness Merger Moratorium And Antitrust Review Act
Fracking Ban Act
Protect America's Children from Toxic Pesticides Act
The end goal is to pass the bill through Congress by the culmination of 2022. Would you like to be a part of this?
What is your role?
Fridays for Future is providing a platform for all youth to participate in a grassroots mobilization and lobbying effort (nationwide!). Youth across the nations will be responsible for “adopting” their representative district. In order to do this, you can receive training and resources (to contact your representative) from FFF’s NYC Chapter. FFF provides the opportunity to learn and practice civic duties. This is a great place to build connections with people who are as passionate as you are. If you do not know much about climate justice efforts, FFF is still a good place to start learning.
Not only is the NYC chapter participating in the Adopt-A-District, but they are also providing a speaker series. They also provide space for youth to help run social media, organize, reach out to district representatives, and more. This sounds amazing and is great for anyone who does not have any experience. They have 5 working groups: social media, content creation, logistics, outreach, and speaker series, and NYC FFF will be adding more and modifying the existing ones as more members join. So, join today!