UVA climate activists hold 'walkout' to 'rally for change' after Trump win

University of Virginia students walked out on Friday to protest Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 presidential election and to promote environmentalism. 

The students criticized Trump’s environmental policies in particular, saying that climate change poses an imminent threat to society.

[RELATED: Environmental science professor debunks students’ pro-Green New Deal protest]

“Our generation will suffer the most from the climate crisis,” one student activist reportedly said during the demonstration, according to The Daily Progress. “We must be the ones to speak out loudest.”

“It’s a little unclear if anything for the climate will get done in the next four years,” the same student said. “Even if he leaves everything as it is and doesn’t create any new policy, we’re still in a really dangerous spot.”

Another participant told a local CBS News affiliate that, “Environmental justice and climate change in general is something I believe in.”

“It’s something that affects my community back in Houston,” he said. “Hurricanes are kind of a big deal, the Gulf getting warmer is kind of a big deal, and it’s something I’m going to show up for.”

Some were not impressed with the protest’s turnout, however. 

“I think Gen Z could be one of the most conservative generations ever,” one UVA student observer told CBS 19 News. “I mean, I don’t mean to be rude or anything, but that’s not a big protest they got going on over there, so I think Gen Z is definitely trending to the right.”

The university’s chapter of the “Sunrise Movement” organized the walkout. 

On Thursday, the chapter promoted the protest “against Trump and his dangerous apathy to the climate and our rights as Americans” in an Instagram post. The post also blamed the university for being “complicit” in the “climate crisis.”

“Come share your anger and ORGANIZE against our country moving BACKWARDS,” the post said. “We begin the four years of CRUCIAL work to put forward-thinking leaders in office to oppose his administration and PRESERVE OUR RIGHTS.”

[RELATED: Student Senate pressures university to reject funding from energy companies]

The student group also blamed Democrats for not nominating a better presidential candidate.

“The Democratic Party failed to put a candidate we support in office,” the group wrote. “We failed to mobilize to elect Trump’s opposition. It is now on US to DISSENT from the policies of Donald J. Trump and RALLY FOR CHANGE.”

Campus Reform contacted the University of Virginia for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.