School Climate Strikes Go Global, with Actions Planned in 92 Countries

Young people are preparing for a mass walkout of classes on Friday, to demand swift action from governments to safeguard their futures.

From the world’s northernmost town, Longyearbyen, down to Cape Town in South Africa, from the Western tip of Anchorage in Alaska to Tokyo in Japan, young people are preparing to go on a school strike for the climate.

The walkout on on Friday 15 March will be the biggest yet, in a weekly drumbeat of pressure on governments to safeguard their futures.

At time of publication, 1,209 events had been registered across 92 countries with the German movement Fridays for the Future.

“The situation we are facing today is a unique one,” Linus Steinmetz, spokesperson for Fridays for the Future said.  “We are the last generation to have a realistic chance to prevent a climate catastrophe.  According to the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), we have less than 12 years to deliver the changes required to avoid this, but we do have the means.”

The school strikes for climate were initially spurred by the solo protests of Swedish 16-year old Greta Thunberg.  In September Thunberg started a weekly vigil on the steps of the parliament in Stockholm to call for faster action to cut greenhouse gas emissions.  The teenager, who has Asperger syndrome, has since become a figurehead for the global climate movement, garnering praise for her blunt and persistent activism.

Read more at School Climate Strikes Go Global, with Actions Planned in 92 Countries