Back in the 2018–19 academic year, I served on the Investment in People, Place, Planet working group during the Ithaca Forever strategic planning process. I was then on the Climate Action Team in the fall of 2019. Throughout, I advocated consistently and forcefully for climate to be central to the final strategic plan.
The protest was part of the movement for climate justice, which aims to address the disproportionate effects of climate change on communities that have been historically subjugated.