Chanting “Stop denying the earth is dying,” Hood River Middle School students skipped school this afternoon and marched through downtown Hood River, carrying signs protesting pollution and government inaction to climate change as part of the worldwide youth Climate Strike.

 “We need to have a fundamental lifestyle switch because the way we are living is not sustainable,” said Hood River Valley High School student Eva Jones at Rep. Greg Walden’s town hall this morning. Jones, along with other members of the school's Earth Action Club, asked Walden to take action towards 100 percent renewable energy in Oregon as early as 2030. “we cannot keep going on consuming and just taking and consuming materials the way we are and there needs to be a fundamental switch in the way we do things and the way we live,” she continued.