On Sept. 20, a protest took place in Los Angeles to rally against the U.S. government’s inaction toward climate change.
Millions of people took part, some of whom were staff and students from Cal Poly Pomona.
Professor of music Jessie Vallejo, along with the College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences communication specialist Diana Cansino, led a group of CPP students to the L.A. protest.
Vallejo joined the protest because she is part of the Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC), which is dedicated to improving transit to campus while looking into eco-friendly methods of commuter travel.
Cansino accompanied Vallejo as the chaperone to a group of four students to join the protest in L.A.
The group led by Professor Vallejo boarded the 486 Foothill Transit bus to El Monte Station and then transferred to the Silver Streak Foothill Transit bus to complete the trip to LA.
They met up with fellow protesters from CPP waiting at Los Angeles Union Station. Together, they boarded a Metro subway to Pershing Square along with many more protesters waiting on the platform.
History professor and TAC chair John Lloyd also went to spread climate change awareness among the CPP community, and to give CPP students a chance to participate through civic engagement, especially regarding an issue they’re passionate about.
The main organizers of CPP’s involvement in the climate strike were Lloyd and sociology professor Faye Wachs.
Lloyd attended the L.A. protest as he also believes action must be taken at all levels to reduce the burning of fossil fuels, the primary cause of climate change.
“The climate strikes are an effort by young people all over the world to bring attention to this reality,” Lloyd said.
(Steven Everett | The Poly Post)
He, Wachs and many more worked to mobilize students to attend the L.A. strike.
Officers from CPP’s chapters of Alpha Kappa Delta and PsiChi helped create signs for the protest, along with volunteers from the Alliance for Social Service Practitioners.
The Sustainability Students Association and the Geography Society provided additional assistance.
First-year computer science student Khoa Le joined the protest with fellow classmates to experience the community event.
Le stated climate change is a global issue everyone should have passion for.
The CPP group led by Vallejo joined the protest in Pershing Square at approximately noon.
The streets were crowded, full of protesters displaying their signs (mantras such as “There is no Planet B,” “What I stand for is what I stand on,” etc.), chanting, singing and passing out flyers and pamphlets related to climate change action.
The entire group of protesters moved to the grounds of L.A. City Hall to finish the protest.
L.A. police officers were around to ensure no violence broke out and to keep the protest from interfering with usual activities in the city.
