MN GreenStep Schools: How did you come up with your list of demands and supporting speaking points?

Holly: We started brainstorming our demands about two months before the walkout, and later met with Roseville City Councilmember Julie Strahan to get advice and input. From there, we discussed and voted multiple times within our group to create our final list. We chose demands that we thought were realistic and achievable, and would significantly reduce our city’s and community’s greenhouse gas emissions.

We chose to include a climate emergency declaration on our list because many other cities in the Twin Cities Area have declared climate emergencies, including some less-than-progressive ones, so we feel as though Roseville should too. We believe this is an important first step towards combating climate change in our community.

A few months before the walkout, I attended a presentation by some of the creators of the bill that led to the Solar For Schools grant program, which inspired me to include it on our list. The grant makes getting solar panels for RAHS much more attainable. Now is the time to start building momentum for schools to apply for it, so they can hit the ground running and get as much funding as possible once the program opens its second round.

We decided to include organic waste on our list because disposing of food waste in a landfill, as RAHS currently does, produces methane, a greenhouse gas that traps over 25 times more heat in the atmosphere than CO2 does. Many elementary schools in the Roseville Area School district currently do organic waste disposal, and we feel RAHS should too. Community gardens at Roseville Area Schools was included on our list because producing food locally decreases greenhouse gas emissions associated with industrial agriculture and transportation. Creating community gardens is also a way to build community and inspire both students and community members to care for their environment. Additionally, we chose to include organized trash hauling on our list of demands because it reduces the number of garbage trucks on the road, thus decreasing emissions.

Once we finalized our list of demands, we selected the individuals within our club that knew the most about and/or were most passionate about each demand, and had them do further research on it and craft a speech to present at the walkout.

MN GreenStep Schools: More specifically for our MN GreenStep Schools audience, how did you hear about MN GreenStep Schools and why did you decide to include it?

Holly: Council-member Strahan told us about MN GreenStep Schools and recommended that we include it on our list of demands. After looking into the program, we quickly decided to add it to our list. We love the way GreenStep Schools seeks to combat environmental issues in a variety of ways, from renewable energy to environmental education. It has realistic steps towards achieving these goals, emphasizes collaboration, and supports schools along the way. We admire how GreenStep sets high standards and has huge ambitions.

MN GreenStep Schools: I know your climate walkout has drawn a lot of attention. What have been the impacts so far - personally and for your cause? And what are your next steps?

Holly: The walkout was far more impactful than we ever could have imagined. We received so much support and momentum for achieving our goals, from students, officials, and other community members. We have become connected with many other people and organizations, such as local climate action groups, school and city officials, and other youth climate activists across the country. Greta Thunberg herself even re-tweeted one of our posts after the walkout! Many more RAHS students have become interested in joining RAHS Progressives, which is great for the future of our club!

Personally, leading the walkout has allowed me to develop lots of important skills, such as leadership, public speaking, communication, and organization, and made me realize that I have a lot in me that I didn’t know I had. This may sound cliche, but leading the walkout has shown me that anything is possible, and if we believe in our dreams and go after them wholeheartedly, there’s no telling what will happen.

Our next steps are to continue to push for the actions on our list. We’re planning on creating a petition for Roseville to declare a climate emergency that we will present to the city council. We have met with the chair of the school board, who has agreed to look into the GreenStep Schools program, and to try to find a way to finance the cost of going solar that the grant won’t cover. We’re working to gather support for organized trash hauling and plan on attending city council meetings to discuss it. We are also meeting with the assistant superintendent to discuss organic waste disposal at RAHS, as well as other environmental issues that relate to our school district. Additionally, we plan on attending a school board meeting within the next month to discuss the school-related actions on our list.

MN GreenStep Schools: For other youth around the state that might be considering a climate walkout, what can you tell them about the planning process and any other advice you'd like to pass on?

Holly: I would recommend planning as far in advance as possible. There are so many steps to organizing an event like this, from communicating with officials and creating social media content to drafting a list of demands, and it takes a lot more time and effort than expected.

I’d advise speakers to make their speeches brief and energetic, in order to keep the crowd engaged. While speaking at our walkout, we realized very quickly that the 15-minute long speeches we had prepared originally weren’t going to work for this kind of event, so we had to improvise a bit. I’d recommend practicing the speeches beforehand to prepare for this type of public speaking.

I'd also advise future youth activists to spend a lot of time researching possible demands. Officials are much more likely to listen to youth if they are knowledgeable about the issues and are specific on what they want. I’d recommend limiting the number of demands to just a few. It can be overwhelming for both youth organizers and officials to have a long list of actions to work towards. Decision makers are more likely to act if youth have specific priorities, not just a lengthy list.

It’s important to remember not to go at it alone. Working with others will reduce burnout and make the strike more effective, and getting as many people involved in the walkout as possible will help the strike reach more people and make it more equitable.

The main advice I would give is to make connections with local officials. Although we want our movements to be youth-led, officials such as city council and school board members have experience and inside knowledge we don’t have, so it can be very beneficial to get their help. We reached out to Roseville City Council Member Julie Strahan, who gave us suggestions, advised us on our list of actions, and helped spread the word about our walkout to many local representatives and city staff. Even now that the walkout is over, we are still continuing to work with Council-member Strahan, as well as other allies we’ve made along the way, to ensure action is taken.

On that note, it can be difficult to avoid treating officials as though you’re angry at them for not taking action (even if you are!) - but telling people that they’re wrong isn’t going to get them to change. Instead, the purpose of a strike should be to show how deeply students care about climate justice, and that they want to work together with those in charge to make progress towards climate action. A great way to do this is to invite officials to your strike, so that they can become involved and see firsthand the action that youth are taking.

Most importantly, I want to remind future youth activists to dream big! Anything is possible, and your voice is far more powerful than you realize.

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Thank you Holly, for sharing the story of the Roseville Area High School Climate Walkout.