DCist is providing special coverage to climate issues this week as part of Covering Climate Now, a global collaboration of 250 news outlets designed to strengthen coverage of the climate story. Many of these stories originated as questions from our readers. 

Thousands of Washington area students converged outside the Capitol on Friday, joining young people in more than 150 countries skipping school to protest climate change.

The demonstration, part of Friday’s “Global Climate Strike,” saw students from D.C., Maryland and Virginia descend on the National Mall, bearing signs urging action to combat climate change.

“People don’t really pay attention to stuff like climate change,” said Ashley Villatorro, 16, a student at Northwood High School in Rockville, Maryland. “We need change now, or else we won’t be able to see our children live in a clean environment.”

“I think that it’s sad that the government cares more about making money than the actual earth and the people living within it,” said her friend Priscilla Chavarria, also 16. As the two young women marched toward Capitol Hill, they held up pieces of lumber with bluejeans zip-tied between. “We’re trying to make it look like waves to represent sea level rise,” explained Villatoro.

Judicael Tchoudja, a 17-year-old student at Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt, said activists needed to speak to national leaders “in terms of money.” He wanted to see investment in clean energy and mass transit — which he said would pay off economically in the long run. “We should put long term profits over short term profits.”

Another way to make a difference, said Tchoudja, would be to improve scientific literacy in schools. “We should be able to form our own opinions with scientific evidence.”

Ahead of the protests, local school districts had said they supported student activism and civic engagement. But school officials were reluctant to excuse students for the demonstration.

Several dozen students attended from Eleanor Roosevelt High School, despite the fact that Prince George’s County Public Schools had a policy of not excusing students for the climate strike.

Students weren’t the only ones protesting. There were a handful of preschoolers riding scooters, as well as infants in strollers. One of them, a one-year-old named Max, had a sign on the front of his buggy reading, “When I grow up I want to see beaches, glaciers and redwood trees.”

There was also at least one polar bear in attendance, holding a sign saying, “Strike for me too.” Sheina Chrystal, the human inside the costume, acknowledged through a small opening in the furry neck that it was hot. “But you know, it’ll be hotter if climate change happens,” said the endangered bear.

Today I interviewed a polar bear at the #ClimateStrike. I asked if it was hot in there — it’s going to get a lot hotter if we don’t do something about the climate crisis, she said. pic.twitter.com/AwJTEWmSRL

— Jacob Fenston (@JacobFenston) September 20, 2019

The protests come three days before world leaders are set to gather at the United Nations for a climate summit. The summit, slated for Monday, aims to put forth concrete proposals to slash carbon emissions and temper the worst effects of climate change.

Photos by Tyrone Turner. This story first appeared on WAMU.