My name is Ariel Weinbaum and my stake in the fight against climate change is the future.

I remember getting involved in taking action after reading the petition released a couple of years back of thousands of young people vowing not to have children until/unless the climate crisis is resolved. As we can see in the events that have transpired during the pandemic, the climate crisis intersects with many social crises we are trying to solve. To make an equitable future for everyone, we need climate justice. 

The climate justice movement that I have been working closely with is the Sunrise Movement. Sunrise is a youth movement to stop climate change and create millions of good jobs in the process. They harness the power of young people to make climate change an urgent priority. Sunrise empowers any group of three people to take action and also take action nationwide to put pressure on government representatives to listen to the demands necessary to stop climate change.

PCR’s environmental work has attracted and inspired rowers who care about the future of our planet. Many PCR alumni, members, and supporters are even members of the Sunrise Movement. Carmen Siftar and I have worked together on multiple Sunrise Movement actions. In 2019, there was a North East Sunrise Climate Summit to train new members which was attended by four (!) PCR members who have continued to support Sunrise through the years. PCR student-athletes also showed out for the recent election-related actions which was a collaborative event with the Election Defender organization.

Though Carmen and I will be graduating this spring, I am positive that we will not be the last Sunrise members to grace these eight shells and I cannot wait to see what PCR climate activists achieve in the future.

Ariel Mandel Weinbaum is currently a senior at Central High School. She intends to study psychology next year and looks forward to bringing her passion and action for climate justice to a new community when she heads off to college next fall.