A CALL TO ACTION:
GLOBAL CLIMATE STRIKE &
ONGOING RESISTANCE
Following a May 23 call to action from Greta Thunberg and 46 youth activists in a Guardian piece, the FridaysfortheFuture movement initiated a youth-led global movement challenging the failures of officials to respond to climate change. Since the inaugural global Friday walk-out this spring, youth from around the world have asserted the need for strong measures regarding the climate crisis and the disruption of business-as-usual. Building on this momentum and positioning our movement as an intergenerational one, youth activists have sought to call-in and hold accountable adult allies and accomplices by declaring a September 20th General Climate Strike, followed by a week of direct action and civil disobedience, and calling for mass participation from students, workers, business owners, and community leaders by stepping out of their schools and workplaces for the day.
YUCCA (Youth United for Climate Action) echoes the calls for robust and urgent measures in response to the climate crisis. We thereby pledge our support and participation in the General Climate Strike and 7 Days of Resistance in September, and are fastidiously working to ensure that the most vulnerable of our communities can voice their concerns, ideas, and desires for the actions and organizing of the strike to be as reflective of their lives as possible; the vibrancies of our state are being funnelled into our planning efforts as a reminder that any movement for climate justice must be an intersectional one encompassing Indigenous, Black, Latinx, gender, and economic justice.
The demonstrated inability of elected officials to act on the climate crisis serves to remind us that we cannot limit our efforts to avenues sanctioned by the state; the foundations of the US are built on stolen land supplemented by stolen labor, and this country continues to enrich itself through militarism, imperialism, and extraction to this day. Nonetheless, we are calling on representatives of New Mexico to embrace the Green New Deal – an as-of-yet unsupported resolution by Senators Udall and Heinrich or Governor Lujan Grisham – as one step to tackle the climate crisis, even if only to signal the urgency of the situation and a commitment to act. Plainly, in striving for a guaranteed future away from fossil fuels, we cannot dismiss any and all avenues available; we urge New Mexico officials to Declare a Climate Emergency and meet our demands to secure our future.
With immediacy, we call on our adult allies to step out of their routines, workplaces, and comfort zones on the 20th of September and the week following to show their support for and invest in our cause and the future.
The YUCCA (Youth United for Climate Crisis Action) Steering Committee of Earth Care
Kendrick Manymules, Aspen Coriz-Romero, Castille Aguilar, Veroaylin Campos, Seneca Johnson, Gimena Perez, Faith Pennell-Sutton, Eliza Hillenkamp, Fernando Borrero, Derrick Esquibel, Aaron Tenorio, Artemisio Romero Y Carver, Nayeli Solis, and Josue Damian Martinez
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OUR DEMANDS
1) Create A Just Transition from Oil & Gas Revenues to pay for the research, planning, and implementation necessary to end NM's dependence on fossil fuel revenues, achieve carbon neutrality for our state, and build a sustainable economy that works for all New Mexicans
2) Support comprehensive climate legislation to achieve 100% renewables no later than 2030 (nuclear energy is not renewable energy) with equity, racial, economic, environmental justice and community solutions at the center.
3) A Moratorium on fracking to protect our precious water and health
4) Community Solar Legislation so that our Communities can advance our climate mitigation goals now.
5) We also Call on the Governor and other elected officials in New Mexico to:
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Declare a climate emergency
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Sign on to the Equitable & Just Climate Platform
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Sign onto and advocate for the Green New Deal
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Pledge to stop taking fossil fuel & utility money
WE WILL NO LONGER ALLOW OUR FUTURES TO BE HELD HOSTAGE
● Transition planning and implementation must be designed to address the needs and demands of those most affected by the climate crisis;
● Renewable energy investment must explicitly address equity issues, be paired with investment in energy conservation and efficiency, and be designed to maximize community benefits and control (such as community solar);
● We are committed to centering the voices of indigenous, (low-income) youth (of color) in the planning process, as our voices have historically been divested of any semblance of decision-making authority;
● We demand a just transition that prioritizes indigenous sovereignty; establishes reparations and remediation led by and for Indigenous people, people of color and poor communities for years of environmental injustice, establishes legal rights for ecosystems to thrive and regenerate in perpetuity, and repairs the effects of ongoing ecocide to prevent extinction of human and all species, in order to maintain a livable, just planet for all.