Thousands of young Minnesotans skip school to attend climate rallies

Local news - Thousands of young Minnesotans skip school to attend climate rallies

By Zach Batia

Thousands of students across the state of Minnesota skipped school on Friday to attend climate change rallies at the Capitol in St. Paul and elsewhere within the state.

In coordination with similar rallies worldwide, crowds of predominantly young people demonstrated in order to call on world leaders to take action on climate change.

The rally at the Capitol drew 6,000 students and other supporters of the cause, according to Pioneer Press. This was just one of over 3,000 demonstrations planned for Friday, spanning 120 countries, according to CBS Minnesota.

The demonstrations took place in anticipation of the upcoming United Nations Climate Summit in New York. The St. Paul demonstrators urged state legislators to take action on a number of issues, including the controversial Enbridge crude oil Line 3 pipeline, among other things, according to the Pioneer Press report.

A number of climate oriented bills have been proposed by Democratic lawmakers, including a bill from Gov. Tim Walz which would have moved electric utilities to exclusively renewable energy sources by 2050.

However, many such proposed bills, including Walz's, have failed in congress. Additional legislation continues to be discussed.



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