Bend youth demand govt. action against climate change

(Update: Comments from organizer, local business that will close)

Seven Oregon organizations are joining worldwide demonstrations to demand government action against climate change on Friday. A downtown Bend protest will take place at 4 p.m. at the corner of Newport Avenue and Wall Street.

NewsChannel 21 spoke Wednesday with the director of Oregon Youth Climate Strike, Fredrick Finney-Jordet, who at 17 years old balances his work as an activist with his academics. He’s currently taking Advanced Placement courses at COCC.

“Climate change has affected Oregon a lot and that’s obviously something that matters to me a lot because the environment here in Oregon is so beautiful,” Finney-Jordet says.

He says his parents show strong support for his activism and will be present at the protest Friday. His mom also took part in activism years before Finney-Jordet’s birth. He says his parents inspired him to fight for causes he believes in.

“This (younger) generation is the one that will start dying from climate change if this continues at the rate it’s going at right now,” Finney-Jordet says.

Finney-Jordet has gained the support of several local businesses that are choosing to close their doors and cease business for at least an hour Friday during the time of the protest.

The locally owned Patagonia store in downtown Bend is one of them.

“I think it’s really inspiring,” says Eryndae Thorvaldsen, Patagonia’s environmental coordinator. “I’m pretty young myself and recently stepped into this position, so I think it’s amazing young people are stepping up and saying, ‘Just because I’m young, it doesn’t mean I don’t have a voice.'”

This is not the first time the federal and state governments and their agencies have been under fire for alleged inaction against climate change.

In a statement released before the protest, the organizers listed some of their demands for the federal government which include:

Passing a Green New Deal legislation to create a comprehensive plan for reducing carbon emissions to zero by 2050 Declaring climate change a national emergency Updating water and electric grids to be more sustainable and safe to avoid crises like the one in Flint, Michigan.

In addition, some of their demands for state government include:

Switching Oregon to 90 percent renewable energy by 2025 A universal carbon tax with a portion of the proceeds going to carbon credits for people and businesses below a certain income level Investigating possible alternatives to nuclear energy

Other climate change protests will take place in cities across the state on Friday, including Medford, Eugene and Seaside. You can learn more about the climate strikes in Oregon at https://climatestrikeoregon.org/.