Ben Cowles
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THOUSANDS of schoolchildren across the world skipped school today to urge their governments to take definitive action on climate change and follow through on the promises made at the 2016 Paris Climate Agreement.
The action is part of a youth-led global string of protests called #FridaysForFuture in which school children are demanding their political leaders to take the omnicidal threat seriously.
Over 10,000 kids were joined by the 16-year-old Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg as they took over the streets in central Hamburg today.
Let's keep the snowball growing#FridaysForFuture pic.twitter.com/8euTfXDqWk
— People vs. Oil (@peoplevsoil) March 1, 2019
Greta told the massive crowd they were right to protest.
“We are angry because the older generation are continuing to steal our future and we will not let them any more,” she said.
“We will make sure that they will not get away with it any longer. We will continue our school strike until they do something.”
The city’s senator for school and vocational training Ties Rabe, however, proved himself to be one such politician to oppose the school strike.
“Nobody is going to make the world a better place by skipping school,” Mr Rabe claimed on Twitter this morning.
Children in Dublin joined protested outside Leinster House today.
More than 10.000 children and adults march in Hamburg this morning for #FridaysForFuture with @GretaThunberg pic.twitter.com/Lwb65Xcmjc
— Ingmar J. Gauger (@rootsmessenger) March 1, 2019
Striker Peter Reid, aged 12, told the Irish Times today he was taking action because he wanted to show that young people can do something about climate change.
“If we keep going like this the world will only last for another hundred years or so, which really isn’t long enough,” he said.
“I think adults switch off when they hear about climate change. A lot of the time it’s because they’re scared of it or they just don’t care. I’m a tiny bit scared of it. But if we do something about it there’s no need to be scared.”
Today I've not gone to school. I led a group of primary pupils for #climatestrike #FridaysforFuture in Kampala. I've asked them to join me for the global strike on 15 March. I am still mobilising. I need #ClimateAction now. @GretaThunberg @ExtinctionR @Strike4Youth @DailyMonitor pic.twitter.com/u386ne5xtH
— Leah Namugerwa (@NamugerwaLeah) March 1, 2019
Earlier this week Science magazine published a report which found ocean warming has resulted in a 4 per cent decline in global sustainable fish stock.
In better news, a court in Australia this week rejected the construction of a new coalmine in New South Wales because of its potential impact on the environment.
The judge concluded that the transport and combustion of the coal from open-cast mine would “result in the emission of greenhouse gases, which will contribute to climate change.”
