A group of Central College students have been active this academic year in advocating for the climate. Students Elizabeth Sheldon and Savanna Henning were among Central students attending the climate march in Des Moines Saturday. Both say they wanted to participate in the march because of their passion to stop different aspects of climate change.

“I’m at the climate march because I care about my future being livable, breathable, and peaceful, because there’s not going to be peaceful results from it,” Sheldon says. “I want to be able to have a livable future for me and if my friends want to have children, I want their children to be okay. It’s my major — environmental sustainability, so it’s like my whole life.”

“I’m here as a student, but also as a person of faith,” Henning says. “I think the climate crisis is a moral issue, and I think we’re not thinking about the effects it has on other people.”

Central College Director of Sustainability Education Brian Campbell says the education of students as it relates to environmental stewardship and sustainability needs to be rounded, and not only include the science, but the political actions associated.

“We talk about sustainability on campus, we talk about climate change, but it’s so much more important for them to connect to other people and organizations that are working on this issue, and for them to be part of the political process and see how all the different ways change happens, whether it’s through elections or citizen’s standing together in the streets,” he says.

In December, Central students held an on-campus demonstration and marched to then-Mayor Elect Don DeWaard’s office to discuss policy at the city level.