Alaska has been my home and I have been privileged to have had Alaskans for my neighbors for 45 years. I have been additionally blessed with learnings from over 29 years of public and four years of private education. People that know are quick to point out my fortune in picking Marjorie as my partner for 66 years. I think I am honest with you when I explain my good fortune to education and many fine people who cared about my well-being and my future life. Recently, I was reflecting on what the quality of my life of 86 years would have been without either of those blessings. It wasn’t pretty.

What I see being done to our young people today by the adults is not pretty to me. I have watched school budgets repeatedly be cut for several years and the needs of young people blithely dismissed. Well, I am glad to learn today that hundreds of thousands of young people in over 120 countries, went on strike to bring our attention to climate change and to protest our inactivity in responding to a serious problem.

Greta Thunberg, the 15-year-old Swedish activist, recently nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, is being credited for founding the international Youth Climate Movement. Even more disturbing is how I became aware that March 15 was the young people’s day of their protest online in the Guardian.

Did I miss notice of this significant event in the Clarion and the Anchorage Daily News? Did any Alaska students participate in this strike? I am interested in learning more about our young people and am concerned about their future well-being.

— Hugh R. Hays, Soldotna