On Friday, February 15th thousands of children gathered in protest of climate emergency in the UK and the dire need of attention that the situation needs.
Last week, a protest was held in Parliament Square and involved over 15,000 young people leaving their classrooms to partake in the march which led down to Whitehall to protest at Downing Street.
Posters made for the occasion included witty and passionate remarks like: ‘The Titanic would survive in 2019’, ‘Change the system not the climate’, ‘Stopping pollution is the solution’, ‘Paws for thoughts [including a picture of a polar bear]’ and ‘Frack off’.
The controversy of students leaving education to partake in the protest has gained more awareness to the event – young people to forego the consequences of missing school to express their concerns of the future that is being intoxicated by climate change sheds a light of perseverance for change by students.
The cause is also widely spread on social media expanding the audience. Posts (including information about the cause and locations) have been widespread across the nation – which helped the protest have a large number of participants. #YouthStrike4Climate and similar hashtags splashed across various social platforms.
I interviewed a student who attended the protest, he opened up to me about why he was there: “We are in a climate emergency and our governments only have a few years to prevent complete catastrophe - 12 years, to be exact, to cut carbon emissions by 50% worldwide. Right now, not enough is being done to reach this goal … I joined them as I am fearful for my own future and I think the British government must also fear. The atmosphere was electric and the turnout was much bigger than anybody had anticipated … Cars and buses were trapped within the crowds and the police were getting quite frustrated as nobody thought the crowds would be so large. The movement also spread across Westminster Bridge where hundreds of students sat down to block traffic and send a message to our governments. I hope this is the start of a much bigger movement in the UK and around the world, and that governments listen to young people and take action to tackle climate change.” – Ben Dillin, age 18
There is a clear awareness and need for change amongst our generation that the government is becoming aware of – this climate protest has occurred in multiple countries across Belgium, Germany, Australia and many more, first beginning from a Swedish 15-year-old girl, Greta Thunberg. The unity of the young people all across the world caring about the future of the planet is hopefully a wakeup call to governments on a global scale.
