A joint climate protest to support AB 1243/SB 674 was held by PaliHi and SamoHi.
Photo: Instagram
Students from Palisades Charter High School and Santa Monica High School held a coordinated climate strike at the Santa Monica Pier on November 14, urging California lawmakers to advance the Make Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act (AB 1243/SB 684).
The demonstration, which took place at the intersection of Colorado Avenue and Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica, featured student speakers, handmade signs, and information stations directing passersby to an online petition supporting the legislation. The proposal would require major corporate polluters to fund climate-related cleanup, recovery, and adaptation efforts across the state.
Participants displayed a mix of handmade and printed banners addressing climate accountability, fossil fuel emissions, and the economic impacts of recent wildfires.
Several signs referenced the January fires that displaced thousands of residents, resulted in 31 fatalities, and caused an estimated $250 billion in statewide damage. One banner was painted using pigments made from ash and charcoal collected from burned homes in the Palisades.
Student speakers outlined the bill’s provisions and described how climate-driven disasters have affected local families and schools.
Palisades Charter High School junior Anna Ghaemi summarized the legislation’s intent to shift financial responsibility from taxpayers to the industries most closely linked to climate pollution.
Santa Monica High School senior Mark Schneeman discussed the role of major oil and industrial companies in contributing to conditions that exacerbate wildfire severity.
PaliHi senior Maria Knierim provided firsthand perspective as a student whose home was lost in the January fire.
SaMo High senior Eugene Naruse, from the school’s Team Marine program, noted that the action was synchronized with youth-led climate events taking place nationwide and abroad during the U.N. COP30 Climate Summit.
The student-led event was supported by members of Resilient Palisades, Climate Action Santa Monica, Third Act Southern California, Peace and Climate Justice, Fridays for Future, and Dodger Fans Against Fossil Fuels.
Organizers said they will continue public outreach as the bill approaches a key California Assembly committee hearing in January. The petition circulated at the event is available at: click here.