The Citizens Climate Lobby San Mateo Youth Group (CCL) hosted its annual Youth Climate Rally on Sunday. People of all ages began arriving at San Mateo Central Park around 11:30 am, carrying signs and eager to participate.
The grassy area surrounding the Park stage featured tables of food and custom wood games as part of the “Climate Carnival.” Before the rally began, participants played games including “Planet Pinball,” where players earned positive points for climate-friendly actions and negative points for actions contributing to climate change, “The Pitfalls,” where players used strings to guide a circular disk along a path toward a better future, and “Knock ‘Em Out,” where participants threw bean bags at targets representing major causes of climate change.
This year’s Youth Climate Rally theme was “Stronger Together,” emphasizing the importance of coming together to fight for a cause. “We are unified against climate change. It’s more effective this way,” CCL youth member Lillian Huang said.
At around 11:45, the march began. Youth members with megaphones led the group, calling out an array of chants for climate action. “[The march] is unique because it’s youth-led, so all of us are high school students,” march leader Trinity Queypo said.
The chants included shouts of “Hey, hey! Ho ho! Fossil fuels have got to go!” and “No more coal, no more oil, keep your carbon in the soil!” The protestors walked through downtown San Mateo as bystanders cheered them on, took photos, and joined the protestors.
The march lasted around 30 minutes and ended back at the Central Park stage. “It’s important to be here to show the community and the world that there is passion and enthusiasm around changing our energy system to save our planet,” California State Senator Josh Becker said.
Back at the stage, the rally continued with four guest speakers: San Mateo mayor Adam Loraine, Becker, Supervisor Noelia Corzo, and NBC Bay Area meteorologist Kari Hall.
Loraine kicked off the guest speaker sessions. He discussed how San Mateo County expanded housing near public transportation and reduced emissions. “A number of our cities have reduced their emissions from energy use through West Light Energy, just by having that be our primary electricity provider,” Loraine said.
He also explained that San Mateo has continued to introduce renewable energy through local projects. “We’ve constructed a solar carport at Bearsford Recreation Center, so some of our parks can begin to be powered by renewable energy,” Loraine said.
He closed out his speech with a positive message. “With good examples that happen at a local level, others can see what we are doing and do it themselves,” Loraine said.
Hall also gave a moving speech. She began by sharing recent headlines about devastating climate disasters, followed by a similar number of positive headlines. “Stanford Science has developed a new way to reverse coral bleaching at record speed,” Hall said. While the news often feels like it only covers devastating disasters, it can also highlight scientific breakthroughs and successful climate initiatives to show people there is progress.
“The news that we deliver on NBC Bay Area can span the spectrum from devastating losses to little glimmers of hope and proof that things can and are changing, and sometimes that progress can be very slow,” Hall said.
She emphasized the importance of groups like CCL, which work tirelessly to raise awareness of the impacts of climate change. “We march alongside you, young people that are like-minded, demanding for a better future. We are stronger together,” Hall said.
After all the guest speakers finished, the rally opened the stage for an open mic session, inviting participants to speak about any climate-related topic that they cared about. CCL student mentor Elaine Salinger took the stage. She discussed how oil and gas companies often influence elected officials through political donations, which she argued might affect their decisions on climate policies. “When you elect a true climate champion, you don’t need to call them up and ask them to do anything. They do it on their own because that’s who they are,” Salinger said.
“We are fighting for ourselves for today, not just tomorrow. We have seen time and again [that] tomorrow [is] passed down to the next generation. That ends with us. Today is ours, and we cannot wait another second,” CCL youth member Tillie Clayton said.
