#loveandrage

On a cold, gray Friday in December, 2019, a group of young climate activists gathered outside Charlotte Mecklenburg Government Center.  Five high school students sat against the building in a roughly configured circle with a few scattered protest signs. 

The science is clear. The Earth, our home, is in crisis. This is not a drill. Why do these young people strike?

“I strike because I am terrified. When I first learned about the climate crisis, I felt paralyzed. I felt alone and scared and helpless... Striking has helped me reverse the narrative of “as an individual there is so little I can do” to “I am going to do every little thing I can.” Activist, Mary Ellis Stevens

“I keep striking because I’ve found an unlikely community built on fighting an ecocide. The community has become my family.” Activist, Jacqueline Dinh

Their words are a  simple, clear statements of what I have seen. The power of their activism is the resiliency and intimacy of the relationships forged in this time. 

What follows is a visual narrative of my time spent with them most Fridays between December 27, 2019 and March 3, 2020.