On Wednesday, April 20, members of Ohio Youth for Climate Justice and Sunrise Columbus disrupted The Ohio State University’s 2022 signature Earth Day event: “Time to Act on Climate Change” at the Ohio Union’s US Bank Conference Theater.

Organizers dropped banners and led chants when President Johnson, a planned speaker and award recipient at the event, began her speech.

The students demanded that OSU completely divest from fossil fuel companies immediately and reinvest the money into the Columbus community.

“It’s time for President Johnson to address the realities of the crisis and leverage her power to tangibly act on climate change,” said Catherine Adams, a student organizer and a freshman at OSU. “We have tried asking nicely. We have tried to meet with President Johnson, but she continues to make empty promises rather than sitting down with us and working towards real solutions for our community.”

Friday, April 22 - Earth Day
Saturday, April 23, 12-7pm - Earth Day Festival downtown
Join us at Genoa Park for our annual Earth Day Celebration! This family-friendly event will feature local music, food, and drinks from a diverse array of vendors. Genoa Park is a 2.07-acre urban park along the west bank of the Scioto River located between Broad and Rich Streets,
Vendors & Children’s Activities 12-5pm
Bands, Food Trucks & Beverages: 12-7pm
Entry: Free!

A friend, a young journalist in Gaza, Mohammed Rafik Mhawesh, told me that food prices in the besieged Strip have skyrocketed in recent weeks and that many already impoverished families are struggling to put food on the table. 

 “Food prices are dramatically surging,” he said, “particularly since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war.” Essential food prices, like wheat and meat, have nearly doubled. The price of a chicken, for example, which was only accessible to a small segment of Gaza’s population, has increased from 20 shekels (approx. $6) to 45 (approx. $14).

 These price hikes may seem manageable in some parts of the world but in an already impoverished place, which has been under a hermetic Israeli military siege for 15 years, a humanitarian crisis of great proportions is certainly forthcoming. 

The war in Ukraine rages on, and the war mentality, promoted by propaganda on all sides, generates ever more devotion to keeping it going, even escalating it, even considering repeating it in Finland or elsewhere based on having “learned” precisely the wrong “lesson.” The bodies pile up. The threat of famine looms over many countries. The risk of nuclear apocalypse grows. The impediments to positive action for the climate are strengthened. Militarization expands.