Students from Castlemaine in Victoria, Australia. Image credit: Eddie Jim
Students on the move. Image credit: Luis Enrique Ascui
Students protest in Sydney, Australia on Friday. Image credit: BBC News, November 30, 2018
The protest in Melbourne, Australia. Image Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui
'Don't kill our home': Students on the steps of Parliament on Friday, November 30, 2018. Image credit: Luis Enrique Ascui
Students across Australia are skipping school today to push for greater government action on climate change.
Fort Street High student, 14-year-old Jean Hinchliffe (left), one of the organizers of the nationwide student strike, i.e. #ClimateStrike, explains: “We see that climate change is a real issue, and we see that it’s something that’s important and it’s going to impact our futures. So I feel like I need to take action, I can’t just sit around waiting until I’m old enough to vote because that’s going to be too late”.
Friday’s protests represent the first Australian action in the global advocacy movement which was sparked by 15-year-old Swedish student Greta Thunberg (right) who gained worldwide attention in September after going on strike in her own country to highlight the climate crisis.
Thunberg told the Sydney Morning Herald she was supportive of the strike, calling Australia "a huge climate villain".
I’ve read that even the education community is backing it.
"Speaking with teachers individually, they’re all pretty supportive. But they can’t be publicly supporting a strike", one campaign organizer had said.
The “Strike 4 Climate Action” is involving children in all capital cities and twenty regional centres such as Ballarat and Newcastle.
Australian PM Scott Morrison (right) had scolded them for their "activism" during school hours.
His Monday rebuke: "What we want is more learning in schools and less activism in schools”.
A ridiculous response, if you ask me. In schools, the children will have learned about climate change – and I’m sure they will have this sense of dread about the bleak future that awaits them.
And so, I’m not surprised the prime minister’s warning went unheeded.
In fact, many students said his remarks had bolstered their resolve to protest.
Resources Minister Matt Canavan (right) chipped in too. "Taking off school and protesting? You don't learn anything from that”.
The bonehead had told schoolchildren: "The best thing you'll learn about going to a protest is how to join the dole queue. Because that's what your future life will look like, up in a line asking for a handout, not actually taking charge for your life and getting a real job".
These two ministers are idiots, imbeciles! Students protest because they care about their dying planet. They want a future!
"We will be the ones suffering the consequences of the decisions they [politicians] make today", protester Jagveer Singh, 17, tells BBC.
Aisheeya Huq, a 16-year-old student from Auburn Girls High School, knows young people 'are going to have to face the consequences' of climate change long after the current political leaders are gone.
Vivienne Paduch, a 14-year-old student from Manly Selective School, says “striking for climate action is more important than missing a day of school”.
Tully Boyle, a 15-year-old at Castlemaine Secondary College, recognizes climate change is a massive emergency: "We want all governments to take it seriously".
They and other demonstrators are damn right.
Right now, the only thing they can do is protest – and try to put climate change as the #1 priority on the national agenda.
Even now, the world is being threatened by climate change and the politicians still think ‘everything is fine’! The “What-me-worry” attitude is worrisome, if not alarming.
The United Nations is already saying that Australia is not on track to meet its Paris climate commitments.
It has been pointed out that Australia’s emissions are projected to be “well above” its target of a 26-28 percent reduction on 2005 carbon emissions levels by 2030.
And not only Australia – about half of the G20 countries including Canada and the US are falling really short of their Paris commitments.
Despite the findings, Australia’s environment minister, Melissa Price (left), insisted on Wednesday the government have “the right mix of scalable policies to meet our 2030 targets”.
She and the rest of the government seem to be lying to themselves and to Australians.
Loving this sign at the Melbourne #ClimateStrike. Image credit: Moira Cully
This is the best and cutest strike ever #climatestrike. Image credit: Moira Cully
The UN Emissions Gap Report for 2018, which looks at the gap between carbon reduction policies countries have in place and what is required to keep global warming to well below 2C, says global emissions have reached record highs – meaning, 53.5 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide.
On current policies, it says, annual global emissions would hit 59 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide-equivalent by 2030. If countries met their unconditional 2030 targets, they would hit 56 gigatonnes.
To have a 66% chance of meeting the 2C Paris target, emissions would need to be down to about 40 gigatonnes a year by 2030 and to achieve the more ambitious target of 1.5C they would need to fall to about 24 gigatonnes.
The UN warns that on current trajectories, the world is on track for about 3C of warming by 2100, with warming to persist after that. You bet, the planet will be a very, very different place by then.
UN environment program executive director Joyce Msuya (left) intoned: “The message is clear: we need to make an almost existential change, the solutions are there, and we have no excuse”.
She’s right – we are not powerless in the face of climate change. What’s missing is the leadership.
Australian students explain on their website
www.schoolstrike4climate.com: “Climate change is one of the biggest problems facing the world and it isn’t being addressed quickly enough. In Australia, education is viewed as immensely important, and a key way to make a difference in the world. But simply going to school isn’t doing anything about climate change. And it doesn’t seem that our politicians are doing anything, or at least not enough, about climate change either”.
As Greta Thunberg says: “Our carbon budget has been spent and there is nothing left for future generations”.
We must ACT now!
