University students will join the Global Climate Strike on campus to demand better government action on climate change on Friday.

The protest will run from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., starting in the Main and North Quads and moving to Alma Mater for selected speakers. 

The march is one of over 500 climate protests organized in the United States surrounding the upcoming UN Climate Summit. The Summit takes place on Sept. 23 in New York and will focus on adopting the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. 

For the 19 strikes in Illinois, many of them will focus on Illinois’ Clean Energy Jobs Act. 

“There’s a lot of urgency to pass it and right now the Governor hasn’t really stepped up,” said Caroline Wooten, lead organizer for the Illinois Sierra Club. “A lot of events are going to be focused on Governor Pritzker.” 

The act would put Illinois on the path to 100% renewable energy sources, creating training programs for energy workers whose industries would be removed, Wooten said. 

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