Climate Activist Greta Thunberg to join Iowa City climate strike

The Daily Iowan

Climate strikers march from City Hall to the Pentacrest to raise awareness about the threat of climate change. The march was one of hundreds taking place around the world on Friday, Sept. 20. (Reba Zatz/The Daily Iowan)

Brooklyn Draisey, Managing Editor
October 2, 2019

Sixteen-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg will join Iowa City students and residents in a weekly climate strike this Friday.

Iowa City high school students began protesting government and institutional inaction on climate change earlier this year. What started as a small group of teenagers has grown into a movement that regularly rallies for climate action.

More than 1,000 people met Sept. 20 to participate in a global climate strike where they walked from City Hall to the Pentacrest and have held protests every Friday since.

According to a Student Climate Strike Iowa City Twitter post, Thunberg inspired the group and “emboldened” them to stand up for the Earth.

“We will strike until adults wake up & change,” the post said.

RELATED: Iowa City Global Climate Strike march demands action

In addition to the Friday strikes, the group wrote an open letter to University of Iowa President Bruce Harreld, calling for the administration to take resolute action against climate change.

Thunberg began striking for climate change in late 2018 and has become an internationally-known activist. She misses class in order to travel, speaking out about inaction from the world’s governments in combating the climate crisis.

Thunberg is traveling throughout North America after speaking at the U.N. Climate Action Summit, visiting different cities what hold marches. She stopped in Montreal Sept. 27, where she received the key to the city.