Our School Strike Experience

On March 15, we joined more than million students who on that day, and for every Friday since August last year, and some for even longer, have been striking for our politicians to take real actions regarding Global Warming.

Kids School Strike for Climate (Photo: https://www.schoolstrike4climate.com/)

Jay and I, the creative minds behind My Mochila Trip, live in different countries, in different continents. Me, Angel live in Bogota, Colombia, Equatorial area, 2600 MAMSL; Jay lives in Bucharest, Romania, Northern Hemisphere, 83 MAMSL. During European winter we are separated by 7 time zones, and in summer by 8. We hang out a lot together, and even have been able to watch movies in theaters by a few minutes differences at the same time. The strike was no different.

The strike in Bogota was set to begin at 10 AM, and at Bucharest it was from 4 PM-6 PM. So we decided to be there at 10 AM COL/5 PM ROM.

This was not the first time I, Angel, joined a strike. I’ve been to other ones: for the environmental, for water, for human rights, for LGBT rights, for women’s rights, for peace, for sexual workers rights. I wanted to go, but at a moment I felt hesitant. What is my presence there going to achieve? I live 2 hours away from downtown, and downtown is energy draining, so I was reconsidering. I had told Jay to support the strike from the distance with a meditation. He agreed. He’s not fond of crowds.

Some days before the strike I read that the deforestation rate in Colombia has wiped out the size of 5 Bogotas (2500 Km2) in the last year. And even though the Colombian Supreme Justice Court gave 4 months for the government to act, to date the deforestation rate had increased a whole Bogota (500 Km2 approx.) Instead of reducing.

I read Greta’s twitter account and felt again inspired to go. Jay was more than thrilled and supportive. And the strike matching hours seemed like a divine timing.

On the day of the strike, I decided to make a board. Having been to a few strikes, I know they express fast the ideas I wanna share and journalists can take pictures to share my idea.

My board "Bajémosle la fiebre a la Tierra" (Let's cool off Earth's fever)

One side read: “Stop the deforestation in the Amazon”, the other side: “Let’s cool off Earth’s fever”. On my way there, while texting with Jay, I decided to decorate the sign.

When I, Jay, arrived, there didn’t seem to be too many people. I looked for the location for a little while, wondering if I got it right. The demonstration was taking place by the only statues around, so it was quite easy to find.

At Bucharest, animals joined the strike

I went closer to the small crowd gathered there - there was even a German Shepherd, and looked around to see what’s going on. Many teens and school students, along with some older ones. Some YouTube vloggers and a few media publications were also there, and they started interviewing people and taking pictures.

I didn’t want to be asked questions, and I don’t even know enough about the topic to be able to freely speak about it. So I mostly people watched and observed the environment.

I wasn’t sure what to expect in terms of numbers. At first sight, it looked like a really small crowd. I wished more people attended but I guess it’s good some came at all.

After a while, a guy asked us all to gather for some group pictures which we did. I also had my plastic Coca Cola bottle with me which was sort of a no-no to such demonstration.

It was the first event of this type I attended and I felt a little out of place, but felt nice. Everyone present seemed happy to be there and support the environment in the way they can.

I didn’t know much about Greta before but she has become a worldwide phenomenon. My usual interests revolve more around animals and I didn’t have any involvement with issues like global warming. And seeing how much of an impact she made - be it by luck or simply the right timing - got me interested enough in what she was conveying.

Full congregation at Piata Universitaii, Bucharest, Romania

I didn’t hang around for long after taking pictures. Luckily a Second Cup cafe was 30 meters away from the event place, so I went to have coffee while still watching what was going on.

Overall, I definitely feel people can be more involved. Bucharest is a city with ~2 million residents and more can be done to support eco movements. There is a lack of awareness regarding this but hopefully things are improving.

I really enjoyed attending and will probably do so again in the future. It was a lovely experience for both of us, and it was made even better by the fact Angel introduced me to it. This way, we attended the strike not in one but 2 places !

When I, Angel, got to the Plaza de Bolivar Square I didn’t see anyone either. I thought: “this sucks, but I will still be representing my Colombia on this matters.” I texted Jay and he said: “we’ll send you our strike energy from here”.

The 11 year old that called the radio to invite to this protest in Bogota

I was taking some pictures of the sign when a kid and her mother came to ask me if I was there for the School Strike. I was thrilled to see them. We took some pictures and I asked them how did they know about it? They said: “because of the global movement”. Later on I found out that this 11 year old girl had called a famous radio station to call on the congress people to do their job when it came to our contribution in Global Warming.

With her, other young people joined, and more and more were gathering. Kids in uniform, adults, an indigenous person, some photographers, and even some foreigners who came to support the strike as well.

Indigenous people showed up in support of the strike

I asked the photographer if he was gonna take pictures. He said: “You are too few, if you’d seen other countries”. We were around 70 people. Maybe few, but Greta started alone, and has inspired millions.

A woman, invited us to gather around, and share why we came, kids talked said there’s no B planet, their professors said they all belonged to a public school and they wanted to raise awareness to their students. The indigenous person shared his love for mother earth and his lifelong battle to protect its rights. Other young people shared their changes using less plastic, being more aware of the clothing they use.

Kids striking in Bogota, Colombia, at Plaza de Bolívar

I shared that my participation was due to the fact that even with all the changes in my life, there are still so many things that pollute that we NEED our governments to be stricter and industries more conscious and offer greener, with better quality and more affordable products.

A girl from Universidad de los Andes, one of Colombia’s top Universities, shared her frustration that even though she studied Environmental Engineering and was taught those issues every day, only 4 from her university were attending. Another young enthusiast, invited us to brainstorm together how to increase the number of involve people and how to make this movement grow. She talked about the initiative of Más Compost, Menos Basura (that picks up organic waste from houses to be composted), she talked about the moon cup, and urged us to support companies that were already making changes. She said she postes the info she finds on Instagram.

Meanwhile I saw Jay’s text and replied.

This is how our first strike together ended. I felt so happy and proud. I came out of the strike energized. I saw the pictures of Jay in his strike and felt absolutely proud. He’s not one to enjoy crowds, so seeing him involved, learning and supporting felt so wonderful. I was so happy to share his first strike together.

He went for a coffee, we texted and then we went home.