This year's New Year's Eve celebration in Times Square will spotlight efforts to combat climate change when high school science teachers and students press the button that begins the famous 60-second countdown. Organizers announced the plan Saturday. The two teachers and four students have done a clean-air project and a fundraising walk to raise money for places without clean water.
“On New Year’s Eve, we look back and reflect on the dominant themes of the past year, and seek hope and inspiration as we look forward,” Times Square Alliance President Tim Tompkins said in a statement Saturday announcing the plan. Tompkins said, “are working to solve this global problem through science,” the Associated Press reported.
Young climate activists gained new prominence this year, when Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg sparked school strikes around the world calling for more action to fight global warming. But 2019 also was a year of setbacks and disappointment for climate activists.