Around Town: Club H.O.P.E.

By Caitlin Broderick

A student rally calling for climate change was held on September 20, led by a group of students who marched from Wyoming High School to the village green with posters and spirited chants. They all rallied behind catchy lines such as “inaction is negligence” and “planet over profit.” Once they arrived to the village green, students delivered speeches and read poems to our community that had come together to show support for climate action. The rally was a great way to kick off a year of sustainable practices, and Club H.O.P.E. (Help Our Planet Earth) was more than excited about the support the community showed. 

  

Caitlin Broderick wrote the following poem. She read it for the hundreds of students and community members in attendance at the Club H.O.P.E. climate change rally on September 20. 

There is safety in unchanging

We see our wrong doing stretched behind us and chose to continue, 

comforted by our assurance we have acted in innocence and 

what would a change be but an admittance

That our actions were in need of remedy? 

There is safety in unchanging 

Safety in rallying for the Western cathedrals we have always glorified

Cutting tears into our faces with the glass we picked up off our holy floor 

As we remove ourselves from the Earth before us, 

yet are simultaneously in touch with an unseen holiness 

It is this same safety, this same unchanging 

That dismisses the burning of our Earth’s lungs, the holy temple of the Awà

For Where there is safety in unchanging for us, 

there is profit for corporations 

Where there is safety in unchanging for us, 

there is the continued genocide of indigenous people

For Where there is safety in unchanging for us, 

there is the contribution to our own unravelling

It has never been the most affluent who feel the effects first 

So why should the destruction of our planet be any different? 

It is the disenfranchised, 

those who are affected directly by our supposed safety, 

our continual perpetuation of a system that bolsters us as it neglects others

But what affects one of us directly, affects us all indirectly 

I don’t ask us to put down the glass of our cathedral 

I just ask us to pick up the bark of the amazon 

Cut tears into your skin for the inhumanity of it all, 

the inhumanity that is intertwined with profit and convenience, 

and place the Earth above all else, 

the people on it above all else

We have all done things for which we must remedy

have all claimed to be impartial, 

not realizing that sometimes the worst thing we can do is nothing

that inaction is a stance that enables and helps no one but the oppressor 

But I hope that your past is not a deterrent from doing the good you see needs to be done now

That you see the lack of comfort in admitting you are flawed

and welcome the chance to change not only yourself 

But dismantle the systems that are allowing our Earth to crumble 

There is safety in changing, 

In seeing our wrong doing stretched behind us and choosing to atone 

Comforted by our assurance we are acting decisively 

For what else would a change be 

But guaranteeing safety for us all

Students from Wyoming High School began the march, headed first to Wyoming Middle School so the students could join, and then onto the village green where they were joined by community members for the rally.

The leaders of Wyoming High School Club H.O.P.E. organized the community event. 

Ascension and Holy Trinity’s Green Team attended the event to show support for the student leaders. 

The Wyoming High School students who led the event posed for a photo at the end with Wyoming Superintendent Tim Weber and Director of Communications Suzy Henke. 

Many families attended the rally in support of our Earth and of our students. 

These young families even created their signs out of recycled paper bags and cardboard – sharing their great messages with everyone.