In August 2018, 15-year-old Greta Thunberg of Sweden took climate change into her own hands. She sat outside the Swedish parliament every day during school hours for three weeks protesting against the lack of action toward climate change. Specifically, Greta wanted the Swedish government to reduce carbon emissions to fall in line with the Paris Agreement. Through posts on Instagram and Twitter, Greta soon gathered a following and many other students began striking for climate change.
#FridaysForFuture was born and has become a worldwide initiative. All over the globe students and adults have been striking for action to be taken by our governments to reduce carbon emissions and end the use of fossil fuels. Many cities around the globe have strikes taking place every Friday in front of legislative buildings or town halls.
September 20-27, 2019 marks the next Global Climate Strike where groups around the world will come together and tell our governments it's time to change. Find a Strike Near You
Although reducing our waste and making a personal change are steps in the right direction we need to get the governments on board with stopping climate change. We need to stand up and speak out. As Greta Thunberg said, "We have run out of excuses and we are running out of time".
Sources
- Global Climate Strike: globalclimatestrike.net
- School Strike for Climate: wikipedia.org
- #FridaysForFuture: fridaysforfuture.org