One Ball State student used her love for the environment to organize a climate protest on the day of Climate Action Day.

Senior Theater Design and Technology major Jackie Walburn said that she talked nonstop about this event ever since it was approved three days prior by Ball State. Her enthusiasm allowed for her to hold a protest at the scramble light from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.

“Climate change is the number one issue that is plaguing our world right now, and it needs to be treated as such.” Walburn said. 

With groups as large as two dozen, Walburn shouted, cheered, and laughed alongside friends and volunteers that joined the fight to combat climate change. 

“I’m just one person with a ragtag group of people from Ball State,” Walburn said. “These are just strangers that just want to help the cause which is so cool.”

People joining the protest were welcome to make posters and voice their own opinions about the changing climate. “The planet is burning” one poster said.

An Associated Press article said protests like Walburn’s have created a movement around the world called the “Global Climate Strike.” This movement was inspired by weekly climate strikes organized by young Swedish activist, Greta Thunberg.

“We are standing and protesting in solidarity with Greta Thunberg,” Walburn said. “She’s someone that recognizes the urgency of this issue and is really leading children through this [dilemma].”

According to the FedCenter website, the six primary greenhouse gases being: Carbon Dioxide, Methane, Hydrofluorocarbons, Perfluorocarbons, Nitrous Oxide, and Sulfur Hexafluoride, which can be created through human pollution.

“Climate change as we know it today is the direct result of human impacts and technological advances,” Walburn said. “The solution is activism.”

Walburn got the event approved through Ball State’s facilities assignment coordinator, Charles Scofield. Following approval, Walburn spread the word to social media sharing that she would not be attending either work or classes due to the importance of the World Climate Protest. 

“I wanted to organize something at Ball State so that way the students here could skip their classes or skip work if they wanted to, and stand up for something that they believe in,” Walburn said.

In Ball State’s Appendix N policy, Walburns demonstration is considered a “expressive activity” where “assembling, demonstrating, marching, constructing temporary structures and signs, distributing or posting materials, and other similar means of expressing thoughts and ideas” are permitted.

Walburn had previous concerns about the turnout but was surprised to more than one hundred signatures.

“I wasn’t sure if there’d be any turnout, but I’m really glad that there is and that the students here are as concerned as I am,” Walburn said.

Senior telecommunications and theatre production dualmajor, Rachel Replogle, said she spent several parts of her Friday alongside Walburn and others standing up for what she believes in.

“[To protest] is an incredible freedom that we have in the states and I think we take it for granted,” Replogle said. “I feel like I’m treated like an adult and I’m seen as a full human being instead of a child that I think some of us might feel like sometimes.”

Walburn, like Greta Thunberg, said she will continue her climate activism until a governmental reform can be made to combat climate change.

“What future are we preparing for if there won’t be an earth for us,” Walburn said.

 Contact Chase Martin with comments at cgmartin@bsu.edu.  

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