As Earth Day is around the corner, on April 22, teenagers all across Portland come together for the annual Portland Climate Strike, with this year’s protest landing on April 21. Every demonstration lands on a Friday because of Greta Thunberg’s “Friday for the future” mission that she began in 2018. The  Portland Youth Climate Strike is a youth-led organization that has continued spreading awareness and leading protests despite COVID-19. The Strike (PYCS) began in February 2020 with the help of the previous co-leads, Lana Perice and Catie Macauley. The PYCS strives to take action about climate politics and educating peers on what is harming the planet, specifically in Oregon. 

Teens that participate want to help educate their peers about social and environmental issues. They encourage the youth to fight for climate justice, also by supporting the passing of policies that support climate justice. They are an ally in the fight for racial injustice, along with listening to the voices of BIPOC and LGBTQ+ members. 

The PYCS has brought awareness to four of Portland’s companies who have had the most effect in climate change. This includes Zenith’s fossil fuel activities, the Oregon Department of Transportation, Northwest Natural, and the Portland Business Alliance. 

How these businesses are polluting Portland

Zenith is a business that transfers crude oil throughout Portland. Crude oil is one of the most destructive fossil fuels in the world, and Zenith uses trains and boats on the Willamette River to transport it. According to the PYCS’s website, “This facility is out of line with Portland’s values and is a danger to the community.” 

Although 40% of Oregon’s emissions result from the transportation sector, the Oregon Department of Transportation is spending millions of dollars on freeway expansion. The PYCS is demanding that the leaders stop allowing Oregon’s Department of Transportation from expanding freeways and instead prioritize decarbonization of our region’s transportation systems.

Northwest Natural is a gas company that is promoting misleading information about their products to, “delay effective environmental policies,” says the PYCS’s website.

The Portland Business Alliance (PBA) is an influential organization on the city government that has led to abandonment of many of the city climate policies, just in the past two years. 

Lucy Lotspeich

Lucy Lotspeich, junior, joined the Environmental Science Club as a freshman and took over as co-president her junior year. Lotspeich attended the previous PYCS along with a few others from West Linn by protesting in Portland. 

“Well, right now, I’m a school lead for the protesters,” Lotspeich said. “That means I am in charge of letting this school know [about the strike], which is really difficult.” 

Since the strike is on a Friday, as Lotspeich tries to inform others, the administrators won’t allow her and others a part of the Environmental Science Club to put up posters or talk about it on the Live ROAR broadcast. They don’t allow this because it encourages skipping school and the protests are not educational enough to allow students to skip school because of it. 

“It’s mainly students who are protesting and spreading the word about the climate,”Lotspeich said.

With all the effects of climate change, protesting or making lifestyle change are all opportunities to help the cause. 

“I think that we’re really privileged and no one really goes out of their way to help things,” Lotspeich said. “I think getting [local] kids there to see how this affects people and how impactful a protest can be, because it really brings you into a moment.” 

If you can’t attend the protest, you can also contribute by donating to the PYCS.