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Wilmington youth climate march coordinates with DC event

A group of environmental advocates plan to converge on Rodney Square in Wilmington Saturday morning.

They’ll be led by high schoolers.

The Wilmington Youth Climate March will join others across the country as a “sister march” to the Zero Hour Youth Climate March happening in Washington, DC.

Charter School of Wilmington students Jhilmil Pandit and Sascha Bretzger are the lead organizers.

The march will promote preserving natural resources, switching to renewable energy, and getting corporate fossil fuels money out of politics, says 17-year-old Pandit.

Pandit thinks young people are uniquely positioned to organize around climate change.

“For us we never really see it as a debate, it’s more of a one-sided thing that this exists, and it’s a problem that we are going to face,” she said. “It’s a kind of impending crisis that we have.”

She says the march will promote a so-called “Green Amendment,” which she describes as a legislative guarantee to the right to clean air and water for Delaware residents.

“It makes it easier for environmental lobbyists when they’re going to talk to our representatives in the legislature to say we have been given this right, so you should put this as your priority.”

Pandit says they’ll also call for a Renewable Portfolio Standard for Delaware of 50% by the year 2032.

The Zero Hour sister march organizers are teaming up with the local Sierra Club. Speakers at the event will include a variety of local student and adult climate activists.

 

Student speakers will be Jhilmil Pandit, Sascha Bretzger, Lucy Zuo, a recent graduate of Charter School of Wilmington, Sabin Lowe, a student at Newark Charter School, and Dounya Ramadan, a recent graduate of Newark Charter School.

 
The march starts at 10:30 AM.
 

Sophia Schmidt is a Delaware native. She comes to Delaware Public Media from NPR’s Weekend Edition in Washington, DC, where she produced arts, politics, science and culture interviews. She previously wrote about education and environment for The Berkshire Eagle in Pittsfield, MA. She graduated from Williams College, where she studied environmental policy and biology, and covered environmental events and local renewable energy for the college paper.