Aslan Shand
What are you doing on September 20? If you have any regard for the environment you might well be joining students around the world in striking for the climate.
The global School Strike 4 Climate was was inspired by 16-year-old Swedish student Greta Thunberg, who has just sailed across the Atlantic Ocean from Plymouth to the UN headquarters in New York emissions free. She arrived in the US on August 15 to deliver her message on the importance of tackling the climate crisis, saying, ‘We need to stand together and take action because otherwise it might be too late,’ as reported in The Guardian. And local students, like millions around the world, are right behind her.
Liveable planet
‘Our key concern is whether or not we will have a viable planet to live on by the time we reach adulthood, whether our children and grandchildren will be allowed the joy of living on an Earth properly fit for life with equal or better living standards than our own,’ said Mia Thom and Inde Henderson, who are part of the organising group for the local student strike being organised in Byron Bay.
No time to lose
‘While our leaders sit around denying the very existence of climate change we are losing precious time to combat the issue. We are scared, scared for ourselves, our future, scared that we won’t have a world to grow up in. With the latest IPCC report estimating we have 12 years left, never before did it feel so important to create a platform where our voices could be heard and where we could start to instigate proper change.
‘Greta Thunburg’s creation of the global School Strike 4 Climate movement felt like the call to action that the world had been waiting for.
Call to everyone
‘This strike, we call on all to join us in this movement,’ say Mia and Inde.
‘We ask that you join us in the biggest global strike yet. Strike from your place of work, close your business and join us in making history. Spread the word, get on board, and protect our future and very existence!’
Kids from Mullum and Byron High Schools, Cape Byron and Shearwater Steiner schools, as well as the primary schools will once again be coming together to make their voices heard on the issue of climate change on September 20. They will gather at the Byron Rec Grounds at 10am then walk to Main Beach where they will hear speeches from local students and musical items from young artists.
‘We believe that we are at a ripe point in history; our actions are more important than ever. We need to unite as a society and fight the issue together, because that is the only way we have a chance,’ said Mia and Inde.
‘This is an issue that humans have created, and we alone can fix. It is our responsibility as citizens of this planet to do all we can to stop, and if possible, reverse, the effects of climate change that have already begun to occur.’
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