On November 30th, hundreds of Aussie school students will be staging a walkout, protesting government sluggishness to act on climate change.
Dubbed The Big School Walk Out, inspired by 15-year-old Swedish student Greta Thunberg and her #ClimateStrike, organisers are calling on students to walk out of class at noon and make their way to local political centres, calling on the government to take concrete action on climate change.
“Students from NSW are inviting school students to walk out of school… to call for real climate action to protect our future” reads the description for the NSW Facebook event, which has over 1,000 people interested.
“I think everyone can make a difference but….our politicians have the most power,” says Harriet, 14, in a video promoting the Melbourne event.
“We’re gonna be living in more bushfires and floods, and we don’t have a say in that” adds Milou, another student eager to see urgent action taken.
“If you care about where this world is headed….come and bring your friends to show the parliament that you care”, said Harriet.
Check out this video promoting the Aussie edition of #ClimateStrike
As part of the strike, a brochure has been produced outlining a number of requests for politicians, including halting the progress of the Adani coal mine in QLD & committing 100% renewable energy by 2030.
The aims of the upcoming #ClimateStrike on Nov. 30th
Since the first #ClimateStrike’s kicked off in Paris in 2015, the phenomena has grown, spurned by the recent actions of the aforementioned Greta Thunberg.
Her decision to boycott school every Friday until her country falls in line with the Paris Agreement has prompted similar protests in Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain and Norway.
“Every Friday as from now, I will sit outside the Swedish parliament until Sweden is in line with the Paris Agreement,” said Ms Thunberg in a statement.
“I urge all of you to do the same… until your country is on a safe pathway to a below 1.5-degree warming target.
“Time is much shorter than we think”.
The Paris agreement was a commitment signed by all 197 countries in 2015, committing to keeping the global temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius in the 21st century.
A recent report by The Guardian found that Australia was well off-course in its aim to honour the agreement as a result of record high emissions.
Check out the full statement by Greta Thunberg
“I will go on with the school strike. Every Friday as from now, I will sit outside the Swedish parliament until Sweden is in line with the Paris Agreement.
I urge all of you to do the same – sit outside your parliament or local government wherever you are – until your country is on a safe pathway to a below 1.5-degree warming target.
Time is much shorter than we think.
Failure means disaster.
The change required is enormous and we must all contribute in every part of our daily life. Especially us in rich countries, where no nation is doing nearly enough.
The grown-ups have failed us!
And since most of them, including the press and the politicians, keep ignoring the situation, we must take action into our own hands.
Starting today.
Everyone is welcome.
Everyone one is needed.
Please join in!”
