Downtown Athens Friday, Nov. 26, 2021
The sun starts to set over the skyline of downtown Athens, painting a lavender backdrop above the trees sparkling with newly adorned Christmas lights. I stand in front of the arch watching cars flit by as students trickle back into town after the Thanksgiving holiday. I’m waiting to see one car in particular and I spot it immediately as it slows to find a parking spot.
Mark McConnell’s Nissan Leaf has “green” slogans painted along the side and a huge solar panel mounted on top. After he parks, he tells me he calls it “GRETA” after Greta Thunberg.
McConnell carries signs and a banner to the median in the middle of Broad Street in front of the Arch. He says he doesn’t expect many people to join him tonight. “They’re all still full of turkey I guess,” he says.
Every Friday for the last two and half years McConnell has gathered signs, posters and any people he can find to go strike for climate on the streets of downtown Athens. His work with the Georgia Climate Change Coalition in Athens helped bring him to organizing these local Fridays for Future climate strikes — an idea originally started by Greta Thunberg that has since spread to cities around the world.
“I’m doing what I can with what I have to work with,” said McConnell. He’s usually joined by 4 or 5 others during these strikes, but he is constantly trying to recruit more. McConnell stands alone today but holds a sign over the banner and smiles at every pedestrian and car nevertheless.
The driver of a pickup truck revs the engine as he drives by, leaving a cloud of smog lingering in the crosswalk. A couple of other drivers give reassuring “toot-toots” of their horns when they pass. Pedestrians crossing in front of the signs either nod and smile or look intensely at their feet. I asked McConnell if these responses are typical.
“You get everything,” he said, “…but like whatever, every little bit counts.”
“The whole purpose of this is to keep it in everybody’s face… you know, climate change is just kind of swept under the rug… so I’m like, alright, what are you doing Friday night? Come out at least for an hour or two, try to make a difference, just put that bug in their ear. My friend Caleb says ‘we’re just out here planting seeds.”
Sarah White 