Youths in Berlin show their hands bearing the inscriptions 'Our future in your hands' during the 'Fridays For Future' movement on a global day of student protests aimed at sparking world leaders into action on climate change. Photo: Tobias Schwartz/AFP/Getty ImagesGetty
Hundreds of thousands of students in more than 2,000 cities from Australia and Uganda to Germany and Italy left their classrooms on Friday, March 15, to take to the streets in peaceful marches protesting governments climate inaction. The young generations in 123 countries are demanding attention from politicians, international institutions and their elders literally to save the planet.
The worldwide "Youth Strike 4 Climate" spontaneous global activism by young students worried about the future, was inspired by the commitment and messages of a 16-year-old Swedish schoolgirl, Greta Thunberg, who recently made headlines for her action against climate change and, as a result, was nominated earlier this week for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Düsseldorf, Germany. Photo: Federico Gambarini/picture alliance via Getty ImagesGetty
Berlin. Photo: Carsten Koall/picture alliance via Getty ImagesGetty
Stockholm, Sweden: Greta Thunberg participates in a strike outside the Swedish parliament house. Photo: Michael Campanella/Getty ImagesGetty
In August 2018, she announced her decision to stop going to school on Fridays and instead to protest outside the Swedish parliament (Rikstag) to raise awareness on global warming and to press governments to pass legislation reducing carbon emissions, as agreed in the United Nations Paris Agreement signed in 2015 and now with 125 countries on board, to its pollution reduction goals.
Her urgent call and exemplary commitment have given her an international platform. She spoke to world leaders at the COP24 UN climate summit and at the World Economic Forum, where she told the audience: "I want you to panic."
"Driven by an alarming lack of government leadership on climate action over previous decades," as stated by the UK Youth Climate Coalition, the students of the world decided to follow Greta's lead and strike on Friday. "We’re angry at the lack of government leadership on climate change," they complained. "Those in power are not only betraying us, and taking away our future, but are responsible for the climate crisis that’s unfolding in horrendous ways around the world."
London: Students climbing the Queen Victoria Memorial during the global school strike for climate change outside Buckingham Palace. Photo: Kirsty O'Connor/PA Images via Getty ImagesGetty
Milan, Italy. Photo: Emanuele Cremaschi/ Getty ImagesGetty
Hong Kong: Thousands of young people marched through cities in Asia, kicking off the global day of student protests. Photo: Anthony Wallace/AFP/Getty ImagesGetty
Rome, Italy. Photo: Marco Ravagli / Barcroft Media via Getty ImagesGetty
To show their support, media outlets offered live coverage of the strikes as they grew around the world, devoting editorial attention to climate change. Academics and teachers organizations have also expressed their solidarity with the students' urgent calls: " Should students be at schools?" asked a columnist. "No. This is the most important lesson of all."
Among other things, the students are asking governments to declare "a climate emergency," to organize campaigns to educate the public on the global warming crisis, to make changes at all levels of school curricula to include education about climate change and the environmental crisis we all face.
Wellington, New Zealand. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesGetty
Elmshorn, Germany. Photo: Carsten Rehder / AFP/Getty ImagesGetty
Warsaw, Poland. Photo: Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesGetty
In Britain, students are asking to be included in decision-making on the subject and are calling for the voting age to be lowered to 16.
Here in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, one of the smallest countries in the world, some 10,000 students united under the slogan "Fridays for Future" to call for climate action as social media was ablaze with #FridaysForFuture and #ClimateStrike posts shared by tens of thousands across Europe.
Thousands more packed rain-soaked streets and squares in many cities including London, Copenhagen, Rome, Vienna, Dusseldorf, Berlin, Amsterdam and Lisbon, among many others. Hundreds of marches took place also in different cities of the U.S. and in Asia and the Pacific.
Sydney, Australia Photo: Saeed Khan/ AFP/Getty ImagesGetty
Seoul, South Korea. Photo: Chung Sung-Jun/Getty ImagesGetty
Amsterdam. Netherlands. Photo: Romy Arroyo Fernandez/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesGetty
Paris. In France, the students protests follow the landmark lawsuit, L’Affaire du Siècle ('The Case of the Century'), launched by a number of NGOs against the French government for inaction in the face of climate change. Photo: Kiran Ridley/Getty ImagesGetty
Many messages graced banners urging people to make a change, including "We're missing lessons to teach you one," "The clock is ticking and time is against us," "We are the last generation that can fix this," "Do something about the climate catastrophe at last," “Climate change is worse than Voldemort” and "The oceans are rising, so are we.”
Many of the young people interviewed by different media outlets bore optimistic messages of hope that the strikes and their passionate demands would be heard and would make a difference.
"We strike for our future," Thunberg tweeted ."And we will continue to do so for as long as it takes. Adults are welcomed to join us."
Stockholm, Sweden. Photo: Michael Campanella/Getty ImagesGetty
Edinburgh, Scotland. Photo by Jane Barlow/PA Images via Getty ImagesGetty
Canterbury, Kent. Photo: Gareth Fuller/PA Images via Getty ImagesGetty
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