{"id":11758,"date":"2019-10-17t16:33:27","date_gmt":"2019-10-17t16:33:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dpetrov.2create.studio\/planet\/wordpress\/faces-of-the-climate-march-arizona\/"},"modified":"2019-10-17t16:33:27","modified_gmt":"2019-10-17t16:33:27","slug":"climate-march-faces-arizona","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/climate-march-faces-arizona\/","title":{"rendered":"faces of the climate march: arizona"},"content":{"rendered":"
\u201cwe need to prepare the next generation to take care of the planet and themselves,\u201d says janet rothers, mother of two and co-founder of the navigators tucson chapter.<\/p>\n
rothers, like millions of others across the globe, attended last month\u2019s climate strike along with her children and members of her all gender, secular family scouting organization. the navigators typically organize camping trips and engage in community service work, however, they decided it was important to participate in this year\u2019s climate march in tucson, arizona. <\/p>\n
\u201ci thought it was important enough to let my kids know [climate change] is going on in the world\u201d explained rothers. <\/p>\n parents like rothers are starting to realize that trash pick-ups and recycling are not enough. while the previous generation was told that they can help protect the environment by picking up after yourself, today\u2019s youth were born into a planet in crisis that is seemingly overwhelming to manage. <\/p>\n \u201ci don\u2019t want my children to be terrified of their future. i want them to be aware,\u201d rothers said<\/p>\n that\u2019s why rothers decided to bring her two children, veronica and oliver, to the climate march in tucson. <\/p>\n youth like janet\u2019s eight-year-old daughter veronica believe it is important to participate in events like the climate march. veronica believes protecting the planet is important because \u201ckids in the future can have a happy life where they don\u2019t have to worry about the world\u2019s climate changing.\u201d <\/p>\n oliver, veronica\u2019s 10-year-old brother, believes \u201cwe have a perfectly good planet and we should protect it at all costs.\u201d <\/p>\n janet rothers first had the idea of bringing her children and the navigators to the strike after watching a ted talk by 16-year-old swedish climate activist greta thurnberg, where she encouraged youth around the world to attend the climate strikes and demand climate action.<\/p>\n she asked oliver and veronica if they thought it would be appropriate to invite the navigators club to join, to which oliver said, \u201cyes! navigators and all of (our school) should go!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201ci would rather have a chance of doing something to help than to not do anything\u201d oliver explained.<\/p>\n \u201cmany parents thanked us for doing this,\u201d rothers said. <\/p>\n positive word of mouth spread and classmates of oliver and veronica joined the crowd where they watched older youth armed with megaphones make demands to their city\u2019s leaders for climate action.<\/p>\n to rothers, it was important to teach her kids that \u201cthey do not have to be a passive observer\u201d in the face of this climate crisis. <\/p>\n the event left a lasting impression on her children. <\/p>\n oliver said he learned that, \u201cwe are stronger together.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201ci might be able to help even though i am just one person,\u201d veronica said.<\/p>\n rothers finds it frustrating that climate change doesn\u2019t dominate the headlines every day. <\/p>\n \u201ci\u2019d like to see a tipping point,\u201d she said. \u201ci\u2019m hoping for that tipping point to happen sooner rather than later.\u201d <\/p>\n