A couple thousand protestors, largely made up of teens and young adults, take part in the Minnesota Youth Climate Strike Friday at the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul. Protests took place in more than a dozen cities across the state in coordination with the global strike.
Across Minnesota Friday, thousands of young protesters left school to join the global climate strike.
Events were held in more than a dozen cities. A few hundred people gathered in Duluth, and Mayo Clinic in Rochester encouraged employees designated as "green advocates" to attend events there.
A few thousand people — the Associated Press said police estimated the crowd at about 6,000 — also gathered at the State Capitol in St. Paul.
Jen Foley of Dayton, Minn., took her 12-year-old twins Iris and Kieran out of school to join the demonstration.
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"I think it's really important that they are involved in this because it's their future,” she said. “Half of my life is over. Theirs is just beginning. It's been a beautiful world for me and I want it to be a beautiful world for them."
The protesters are demanding immediate action on climate change and major reductions in emissions of the heat-trapping gases that are making natural disasters like heat waves and flooding worse.
A group of protesters, largely made up of teens and young adults, marched in St. Paul Friday as part of the global climate strike held across the world. The event was aimed at pushing for immediate policy decisions to reverse climate change.
Christine T. Nguyen | MPR News
Abigayle Reese, 21, a Concordia College student and an organizer with the environmental group Friends of the Earth, speaks during the Minnesota Youth Climate Strike on Friday at the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul. Reese said she was inspired to fight climate change from an intersectional lens.
Christine T. Nguyen | MPR News
Eleven-year-old Tilly holds her mother's arm during the climate change rally at the Minnesota State Capitol Friday.
Christine T. Nguyen | MPR News
A few thousand protesters — police estimated the crowd at about 6,000 — largely made up of teens and young adults, take part in the Minnesota Youth Climate Strike on Friday in St. Paul. Protests took place in more than a dozen cities across the state in coordination with the global strike.
Christine T. Nguyen | MPR News
Jen Foley of Dayton, Minn., took her 12-year-old twins Kieran, left, and Iris out of school to attend the Climate Strike gathering at the State Capitol.
Elizabeth Dunbar | MPR News
Liza Rotty, 17, (center) and Kat Anderson, 17, (right) take part in the Minnesota Youth Climate Strike on Friday at the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul. Both students attend the School of Environmental Studies, an environmental magnet school located on the grounds of the Minnesota Zoo in Apple Valley. About 50 students from the school attended the event.
Christine T. Nguyen | MPR News
Mitchell Straw, 15, of St. Paul, listens to speeches during the Minnesota Youth Climate Strike on Friday at the Capitol.
Christine T. Nguyen | MPR News
Zoe Breimhorst and 11-year-old Tilly listen to speakers during the rally Friday in St. Paul. "People are damaging the Earth and if we don't change anything, the future generation won't be able to have any fun," said Tilly, who added that she didn't want to inherit "a mess."
Christine T. Nguyen | MPR News
A few thousand protesters take part in the Minnesota Youth Climate Strike Friday in St. Paul.
Christine T. Nguyen | MPR News
Demonstrators take part in a die-in under the rotunda of the Minnesota State Capitol on Friday.
