DOZENS OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS walked out of their classrooms in downtown Oakland on Friday morning before marching through the streets, chanting and demanding that large corporations take responsibility for their contributions to climate change.
The young people were a part of a wider planned effort across several Bay Area cities to call for the passage of Senate Bill 684, also known as the Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act of 2025, which would require companies to pay into a statewide fund for their climate footprint that would then be used for environmental projects.
In Oakland, students gathered at Snow Park where they made signs and organized alongside other climate activist groups. Their march started off in the park, then moved to the headquarters of PG&E, before finally making their way to City Hall for an afternoon rally centered on promoting a greener future.
Xochitl Cortez, executive director and co-founder of Oakland-based advocacy group Frontline Catalysts, said she was excited to see students participate in grassroots organizing for a cause they personally feel passionate about. She said the goal of Friday’s march through downtown is to pressure lawmakers to pass legislation in response to companies she believes pollute the environment with impunity.
“We need the infrastructure and resiliency, like the planting of trees. We have to do more around climate resiliency centers. We have to do more around cleaning up brownfield areas,” said Cortez. “We need the funding, and who is forking over this funding? We have to get the polluters to pay to be able to put the infrastructure so that we can have a thriving future.”
In front of the PG&E headquarters, the students demanded that the utility company stop raising rates for customers. Students like Yuri Garcia said the rate hikes were used to compensate their investors despite PG&E’s infrastructure causing damage by sparking wildfires.
“PG&E spends millions of our money to lobby against rooftop solar, community energy companies, and climate action while raising utility bills on the working families,” said Garcia. “Young people are watching their parents struggle to make ends meet. Young people are bringing awareness into how high PG&E bills are hurting families in the community.”
We have to get the polluters to pay to be able to put the infrastructure so that we can have a thriving future.
Xochitl Cortez, frontline catalysts
Local high school junior Alejandro Tovar-Montano said he became an environmental activist after seeing how his family’s health has been impacted.
“Me and a lot of my other siblings have struggled with asthma because of bad air quality in the places we are living and I kind of don’t want the rest of the youth to have to deal with that,” said Tovar-Montana. “Not have asthma attacks in the middle of the night or not have an inhaler because you can’t afford it and have to go to the hospital in an emergency.”
SB 684 was introduced in March of this year by state Sen. Caroline Menjivar, D-Van Nuys, but has not had action taken on it by the state Legislature since April.
If SB 684 is passed, the state’s Environmental Protection Agency would be tasked with creating a climate cost study to quantify “all past and future climate harms and damages” between the years of 1990 to 2045. It would then ask the responsible parties, such as companies and other polluters, to pay a proportionate share to a statewide fund that would be used to address environmental issues across the state.
UC Berkeley freshman Anushka Kalyan said she got involved in climate organizing in her hometown of Sacramento as a high school student and wanted to continue doing work to ensure the passage of the bill in the next session. She said organizers wanted to keep the momentum and energy behind the bill going despite challenges with burnout.
Above: Anushka Kalyan leads chants during a youth organized march for the environment in Downtown Oakland, Calif., on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. (Andres Jimenez Larios/Bay City News)
“I think a lot of organizers right now are facing a lot of burnout in the face of a lot of work that we keep doing, and we don’t really know how it’s going to turn out,” said Kalyan. “I keep coming to this because I love the people, I love the work. I’m just so I’m just so excited to come here and meet other young people here today and keep the ball rolling.”
Before finishing at Oakland City Hall, the marchers traveled to the office of state Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, D-Oakland, to provide her with letters written by the students urging her to support the legislation.
The group of young people and the adults who helped them organize finished their march through the streets of Oakland with spoken word and a rally in front of City Hall. Their messages held a similar theme — this generation’s young people want to stop and address the harm done to the environment.
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