Global climate school strike takes place today
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15.03.2019

Global climate school strike takes place today

by Emilia Megroz

They don’t need no education (for today at least).

On Friday March 15, school students around the world are cutting class to protest government inaction on climate change. The global climate strike is anticipated to be one of the largest environmental protests to ever take place.

The strikes are inspired by 16-year-old Swedish student Greta Thunburg, who last year, skipped school each Friday to demand that stronger government action be taken on climate change. Her message attracted mass media attention, and students worldwide have followed her lead and taken it upon themselves to defy authority and take climate action into their own hands.

High school students aren’t directly a part of the workforce, and therefore can’t use their labour power to strike in a traditional sense. Instead, these children are mobilising en-masse, skipping classes to demand that immediate and meaningful action be taken to heal our already mutilated planet.

Demonstrations will take place in over 95 countries and school students will be joined by university students, parents, educators and labour unions.

The Australian student strikes have three main demands: stopping the Adani coal mine, no new fossil fuel projects and achieving 100 per cent renewable energy by 2030. These demands clearly oppose the interests of the Australian government and global fossil fuel industries, who seem hell-bent on ridding the planet of its habitability and ecological beauty in the name of profits.

Australian politicians have been harshly critical of the student strikes, which is unsurprising considering that coal is set to become Australia’s largest export this financial year. But it’ll take more than ScoMo’s slurs to stop these kids. As Greta puts it, “we hear you. And we don’t care”. Power to the students.

Check out the strike times and locations below:

Melbourne — Old Treasury, 12pm

Sydney — Town Hall, 12pm

Brisbane — Queen’s Gardens, 1pm

Adelaide — Parliament, 11am

Perth, St Georges Cathedral, 12pm

Canberra — Garema Place, 12pm

Hobart — Parliament Lawns, 12pm

Darwin — Parliament House, 12pm