Teens march to Seattle's City Hall to demand action on climate change

Hundreds of youth marched from Occidental Park to City Hall on Friday to try to pressure legislators to do more to limit the use of fossil fuels and move toward renewable energy.

The Seattle march was part of a global movement in which young people are skipping school on Fridays to ask politicians to prioritize climate change.

In the U.S., their demands include ending the creation of new fossil fuel infrastructure, moving toward a 100 percent renewable economy and passing the "Green New Deal," a set of legislative proposals aimed at addressing climate change.

Thirteen-year-old Eden Guthrie said she came to the march after learning about climate change in school.

"I remember just finding so many pieces of information that were just really, really sad," Eden said. "Like, it will get to the point where climate change is so bad, like, no matter what we do, our world will just be kind of polluted at that point forever."

"The decisions that the adult makes now will affect kids for the rest of their lives," she added.

Jessie Anderson and Katrina Schubert, both juniors at Ballard High School, said that they're not just asking for legislative change; they've also changed their own lifestyles.

"We both went vegan, and we don't buy new clothes anymore because of the problem with fast fashion," Anderson said.

"Yeah, everything I'm wearing came from a thrift store," Schubert said.

"And we're trying to go less plastic-single use and stuff like that," Anderson said.

On Friday, youth climate strikes took place across the country as well as in Canada, Australia, Mauritius, Chile and Mexico.