11-year-old on Day 41 of Silent Strike Calling for Climate Action
Urgent Plea for “Adults who Love their Kids to Stand Up for our Future” is Resonating with Children Worldwide – Actor Mark Ruffalo
Dec. 6, 2014 Boulder, Colorado –Itzcuauhtli (pronounciation eat-squat-lee)_ Roske-Martinez, an 11-year-old indigenous eco-rapper, is in week six of silence to demand science-based climate action. He asks why kids should “go to school and learn a bunch of stuff if there is not going to be a world worth living in? The so-called ‘leaders’ are failing us. We now face a crisis that threatens everyone’s future. I’m taking a vow of silence until world leaders take action. When I say world leaders, I mean us. Maybe it’s up to youth.” His site is receiving hundreds of thousands of hits, many from children and adults in other nations. Thousands will join his Dec. 10th Day of Silence. He made a two minute video to explain his talking strike “Silent To Be Heard”
On December 10th, International Human Rights Day, Itzcuauhtli may break his silence at the 350.org NYC rally at the UN Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, E. 47th Street. If not, his 14 year old brother Xiuhtezcatl will speak for him at the rally. The event organized by 350.org and co-sponsored by other environmental organizations, takes place 12/10/14, from 4 – 6 pm at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, E. 47th St., between 1st and 2nd Ave., New York City, where New Yorkers will gather to demand that world governments address the urgency of the crisis and highlight the human rights dimension of the struggle for climate justice.
This event coincides with the UN meeting in Lima, Peru, a part of the 2014-15 negotiations for a global climate treaty.
His next action from “Silence into Action” will launch on December 11th leading up to the UN Climate Summit in Paris in Dec of 2015, where he hopes leaders will make meaningful, binding agreements on behalf of future generations.
Itzcuauhtli’s spokesperson is his 14-year-old brother Xiuhtezcatl (pronounciation shoe-tez-cot), director of Earth Guardians http://www.earthguardians.org/index.shtmland a co-plaintiff in a youth climate lawsuit http://ourchildrenstrust.org the Supreme Court considered Dec. 5th. The brothers, raised in the Earth-honoring ceremonies of their father’s Aztec culture, perform eco-rap worldwide https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78SLfsHGAm8 and have shared stages with Michael Franti, Nahko Bear, and Trevor Hall.
After co-leading the 400,000-strong People’s Climate March, Itzcuauhtli despaired that it may be too late to avoid runaway climate chaos. “I felt desperate. I had to do something drastic to change our future.” Accusing leaders of being all talk and no action, he stopped speaking Oct. 27th. His mother, Tamara Roske, calls the response from children worldwide “huge and overwhelming,” especially after Mark Ruffalo called the strike “brave and thoughtful.” The actor wrote, “I am also made heartsick by your despair, little one. Your silence is a symbol of the silence that will come from doing nothing.”
The sixth-grader says the recent US-China climate agreement “is not strong enough. Scientists say we must cap carbon in the next year. If we wait another 15 years, which is when China said they’d cap carbon, it’s going to be too late.” Itzcuauhtli calls on leaders to implement the planetary “prescription”.
http://ourchildrenstrust.org/sites/default/files/PLOS-ONEHansenPaper2013.pdf is written by top climate experts who outlined a recovery plan based on science, not politics—the same remedy demanded in Xiuhtezcatl’s lawsuits against state and federal governments. Itzcuauhtli vows to continue his strike as long as he must and asks supporters to visit ClimateSilenceNow http://www.climatesilencenow.org to join his silence Dec. 10th “even for an hour! When the silence strike is complete, step into your role as leader and take your silence into action. Take action on climate change and never stop.”
Contact; Xiuhtezcatl Martinez 303-946-9347 earthguardiankids@gmail.com
Climate Silence Now http://www.climatesilencenow.org
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