NYC Students Join Global Strike For Climate Change Protest

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - Groups of students across the country in 130 cities skipped class Friday for the first national school strike over climate change.

In New York City, the biggest rallies happened at Columbus Circle, the steps of Columbia University, the American Museum of Natural History, the United Nations, City Hall and Trump Tower, reports CBS2's Lisa Rozner.

The global movement started last year by a 16-year-old girl in Sweden who started skipping class Fridays to instead talk to policy makers. A 7th grade New Yorker started doing it organizing the U.S. rallies.

"Climate change is affecting everyone, it's affecting me, it's affecting everyone here," said Elise Wilkey, an 8th grader at Manhattan Country School. "It's affecting everyone on this Earth."

Organizers say this strike is the first of many U.S. strikes to come, while social media is lighting up with the hashtag #ClimateStrikeNYC.

In:
• New York