Will social distancing sidetrack the climate movement?
Youth climate activists gathered online on a Saturday night in early April to make posters in preparation for the Earth Day march. (Lili Pike/)Late last month, climate activist Shiv Soin was scheduled to sit down with the New York City Police Department to negotiate permits for a protest that would pack downtown streets on April 22—the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. Now, along with most of the region’s residents, the college sophomore is confined at home in New Jersey.With the coronavirus spreading rapidly across the country, the coalition of youth climate organizers preparing for Earth Day decided that their nationwide marches could not go forward as planned. After months of preparation, Soin, who helped organize New York’s climate strikes last year, is now one of a large group of activists adapting their original agenda to the digital realm.“It has been upsetting to have these plans canceled,” he admits. “But it...