'This Is Your Moment': Brooklyn Students Join NYC Climate Strike

BROOKLYN, NY — Hundreds of the borough's students marched their enthusiasm across the Brooklyn Bridge on Friday morning to join thousands of their peers in Manhattan— and millions across the globe — urging action on climate change.

Students from a dozen different schools filled the steps at Brooklyn Borough Hall for a rally before they walked to Foley Square for the NYC Climate Strike, one of the hoards of youth-led protests taking place across the U.S. and worldwide demanding a transition to clean energy.

Young speakers in Brooklyn carrying signs like "When Leaders Act Like Kids, Kids Act Like Leaders," drew on the history of youth-led activism to fuel their requests to lawmakers.

"We did it in the Civil Rights movement, we did it in the Gay Rights Movement, and we're doing it again today, " Roberto Quesada Pagoada, a freshman at Brooklyn Technical High School, told his peers. "The youth know what's going on. We are striking today to tell politicians and big corporations that we have to fight for our planet and our future — we have to act now, not later."

Pagoada, who has rallied at the United Nations and helped organize the Brooklyn strike, was one of many students who wasn't new to activism.

"Even if it seems scary to fight against the injustices — this is the injustice of our decade," Pagoada said.

The strike falls on the second anniversary of when Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico. Marchers will demand no more fossil fuel usage, environmental justice for communities most negatively impacted by climate change in the transition to clean energy, and to hold polluters accountable.

Students in the Brooklyn crowd hailed from Red Hook, Park Slope, Bed-Stuy, Fort Greene and just around the corner of Borough Hall in Downtown Brooklyn. A nearby elementary school, P.S. 261, even joined in to cheer on the marchers as they set out for the Brooklyn Bridge.

"As you walk across the bridge, let them know that you are here to change not only tomorrow, not only next week, but the future of this whole entire world," said Timothy Arthur, student president at the New York City College of Technology.

Their speakers led chants including "The students, united, will never be defeated" and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams' "I'm not going to let them destroy the Earth anymore!" as they walked.

Once they got across, the Brooklyn students would join in a march that drew thousands to lower Manhattan.

The Global Climate Strike comes days before the United Nations Climate Action Summit that begins Sept. 23 in New York City, where leaders from government, business, and civil society are expected to address the global climate emergency..

Millions of people are expected to walk out of their schools, workplaces, and homes in solidarity, and the hundreds of events across the U.S. are beginning to get underway.