Yup, you heard it right, children across the globe are skipping there schools and shouting out loud for the climate and believe us they are doing it right.
On one end in Paris several hundred high school and university students skipped their classes and demonstrating in front of the French ministry for the environment. On the other hand thousands of children in UK have skipped school to teach the politicians a lesson on climate change.
At the heart of the demonstration in France is a deep disappointment with government’s failure to fulfill its commitments under various climate agreements. The activists aren’t buying eloquence about stimulating the economy.
Zelia, a high schooler speaking to France 24 said “We want climate change to be taken into account. Of course the economy is important and makes a country prosper. But to have a country, you need a planet. And if we destroy it, there won’t be an economy at all.”
Children in UK asked the government to take serious steps to address the crisis by declaring a climate emergency. It follows similar strikes in Australia and several countries in Europe as part of a global movement – School Strike 4 Climate.
Who Started This Movement and What is The Effect?
At the time when the complete new generation’s face is stuck to their handsets playing PUBG and updating new profile pic on Instagram, this 16-year-old pig-tailed Swedish schoolgirl and now a climate activist Greta Thunberg. She has been fanatically reading and researching climate change for seven years and since last summer, she has been skipping school every Friday to sit on the steps of the Swedish parliament with a home-made sign that reads ‘Skolstrejk för Klimatet’ (School strike for the climate).
She fanned larger movement with weekly protests in front of her country’s parliament, Riksdag and inspired thousands of students across the globe to work for the climate.
In Brussels on January 24, 35,000 secondary school students marched on the European Parliament in the city’s biggest student demonstration in recent memory, reports France 24. However, the recent demonstration in Paris witnessed comparatively modest turnout of 300 to 400 students, but they are getting organised quickly.
Students have pledged to join their peers in weekly demonstrations leading up to March 15, when Thunberg has called for strike across the world.