Our Plantet, Our Future: How a moment became a movement for HTHMA's Students for the Environment11/18/2020 Written by Maya Jimenez Edited by Eliana Meza-Ehlert It all started on August 20th, 2018 when fifteen-year-old Greta Thunberg walked out of her school and sat in front of the Swedish parliament with a sign that read "Strike for Climate." She continued this every Friday until students, parents, teachers, and other passionate individuals joined her. Eventually, her small act of defiance led to an organized campaign known as “Fridays for Future,” which encourages students around the world to walk out of school every Friday to raise awareness about climate change and advocate for environmental protection and environmental justice. Ms. Thunberg gained national attention due to the widespread support of this campaign and began speaking publicly at high profile events. She even spoke as a youth representative at the United Nations. A year after she first walked out, thousands of people, mostly youth, across the world would join her in protest against climate change. When Students For the Environment, High Tech High Media Art’s environmental club, were informed about the global strike for climate that would be taking place on September 20th, they immediately got to work. They designed posters, which spread like wildfire across social media and were posted all over the school. After the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) unanimously voted to support students, they sent emails to the directors of all seven High Tech High Point Loma schools (also known as “the village”) to inform students of their right to walkout. In the past, students had been punished for walking out in support of issues they fought for, and the SDUSD decision bolstered courage among those who weren’t sure if they wanted to participate in the march. In a matter of days, the word spread that the village was planning a climate walkout.
With Ms. Jimenez, Ms. Mitchell, and High Tech High Media Arts junior, Raha Rafie, leading the front, the students began to march. They flowed down the alley between High Tech Middle and High Tech High. Steady call-and-response chants like, our planet, our future, and this is what democracy looks like, reverberated from the front of the crowd to the very back. Signs were held up tall and proud, displaying an assortment of powerful messages. Some students used wit, other humor, others remained serious, but each student, in their own way, demanded change and accountability. They made their way once around the block, down the street, and back towards the front lawn. After a second loop around the block, most students returned to their classes with high spirits. Some, however, were not quite ready to return. Though concerned about the possible repercussions they would face, a significant group of students took the bus to City Hall to continue protesting. When they arrived at around 9:30 am, they found only a few lone protesters with signs standing in front of the City Administration building. But this didn’t deter them. They made their own march around the block, and as time went on, more students from across the county began to appear. Their small group grew into a much larger one that reverberated with fiery chants. People in the area were forced to take notice of the youth as they marched for their future. The mass gathered in front of the Civic Center, impassioned for what was to come. There they met with the Union of Service Workers (USW) and Todd Gloria, assembly member for San Diego’s 78th district, who was representing the USW. Mr. Gloria and leading members of the USW gave speeches, as did several students from high schools across San Diego. Several Students for the Environment members from our school made statements following the event. “In the future, knowing what we can do in such a short time is really inspiring. We can do a lot,” says Eliana Meza-Ehlert, leader of Students for the Environment. She says that this will hopefully catch the attention of lawmakers and politicians, but also people at school, and that it makes them think about what they can be doing to make a difference in personal ways as well. Junior Gary Goss says that it is important to recognize the capacity individuals have when they come together. “(We) can actually stand up to power and say something to the people in charge. It matters. A bunch of students can walk out and say ‘we don’t like this, please do something about it.’” Another member, sophomore Samantha Del-Rio adds, “I hope that students know that by walking out, the whole world is not going to be fixed. It’s also their responsibility to somehow help out.” We, the youth, have once again brought awareness to an issue facing our generation. We are the leaders of the future and the adults of the present will watch us rise. This is our Earth. This is our future. It is up to us to change it. Thank you to Caitlyn Abragan for photographing this event.
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Turning a New Leaf: The Hidden History of Mesa Verde National Park
Written by Eliana Meza-Ehlert Yellowstone; Glacier; Arches; these National Parks are often recognized as an important part of American history. The National Park movement was sparked by some of America’s greatest thinkers of the 1800’s: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, John Muir. They believed that transcendence and divinity could be found in nature. This led to the idea of an “uninhabited wilderness,” or that nature, by definition, could not be considered a wilderness unless it was unoccupied. This idea was romanticized, eventually leading to what is now known as the “depeopling” of native lands. Mesa Verde National Park is one such example of a park that was founded because of this way of thinking. It sprawls over 52,074 acres of Colorado desert and is home to over 5,000 archeological dwellings (Block). On their website, the National Park Service advertises the park’s critical role in preserving the history of the Ancestral Pueblo people who built the dwellings (Helmuth). They write, “On June 29, 1906, President Roosevelt established Mesa Verde National Park to ‘preserve the works of man,’ the first national park of its kind. Today, the continued preservation of both cultural and natural resources is the focus of the park’s research.” While the park provides information about the land’s history, they neglect to tell the story of the Ute people, whose reservation Mesa Verde now occupies. The National Park Service should do more to acknowledge the Ute people’s long standing history with the land their park sits on, as well as the forceful manner in which the park was founded. Though some tribes were forced off of their land in order to form the national parks, the Ute, were able to “negotiate” the trade for their land. This might not be an issue if it weren’t for the power imbalance between the two negotiating parties. According to a law review by Isaac Kantor, the Ute initially refused to sell or trade land on their reservation. However, when President Roosevelt signed the Mesa Verde National Park bill, much of their reservation land suddenly became a part of Mesa Verde National Park. After learning that many archeological sites existed outside of the newly minted National Park, the government began trying to acquire more of the Ute’s land. The tribe continued to refuse to sell or trade their land, until congress pointed out that they could simply take their land for nothing. Reluctantly, they agreed to trade some of their land for other land on Ute Mountain. When additional sites were discovered, congress took another 1,320 acres without notifying the Utes. The National Park Service didn’t end their quest to acquire more land for the park until 1970. Though the Utes have now received $32 million in compensation for the land that was taken from them, the National Park Service continues to slight the Ute tribe. They do little to promote Mesa Verde’s sister park, which operates on the Ute reservation, and offer little information to their visitors on the Ute people. Though the park itself should remain unchanged, the National Park Service needs to do a better job of promoting what they so often boast of promoting: cultural and historical preservation. Like it or not, the narrative of the Ute people is interwoven with that of Mesa Verde’s national park, and all it takes are simple steps to share the true story of the land. It goes without saying that reservations and the way the divide between Native American tribes and National Parks has been handled is highly problematic, but we can begin to retell the narrative by acknowledging the issueㅡ learning about the native tribe that previously occupied a park before you visit it is a great way to start. Works Cited Block, Ira. “Soar Over the Elaborate Cliffside Villages of the Pueblo People.” A Guide to Colorado's Mesa Verde National Park, 11 Apr. 2018, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/national-parks/mesa-verde-national-park/. Helmuth, Laura. “In the Cliffs of Mesa Verde.” Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian Institution, 1 Jan. 2008, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/in-the-cliffs-of-mesa-verde-10863419/. “History & Culture.” National Parks Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, https://www.nps.gov/meve/learn/historyculture/index.htm. Kantor, Isaac. “Ethnic Cleansing and America's Creation of National Parks.” Public Land and Resources Land Review, 2007, https://scholarship.law.umt.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1267&context=plrlr. Gilio-Whitaker, Dina. “The Story We've Been Told About America's National Parks Is Incomplete.” TIME , 2 Apr. 2019, time.com/5562258/indigenous-environmental-justice/. |
About the In The World pageAll blog posts focus on engaging environmental topics that discuss our impact on a global scale. The AuthorsEach blog post were written by different students at High Tech Media Arts. Click below to learn more about them. Archives |