Students of all ages are set to gather outside Leeds Town Hall at 11am today, in protest of inadequate climate control regulations and the British government’s perceived inability to effectively address the growing climate crisis.
The protest is part of a wider, co-ordinated day of action, in which university, college and school students alike are expected to protest in their thousands across the country. The nationwide protests have been organized and promoted by the recently formed people’s movement, YouthStrike4Climate.
The movement, and its call for nationwide outcry amongst Britain’s youth, was inspired by the FridaysForFuture protests which began when 16-year old Greta Thunburg sat in front of the Swedish parliament every school-day for three weeks, in order to highlight her government’s underwhelming attitude towards climate change. Students in Australia followed suit, as did they in France, Switzerland and Belgium, where, in December alone, 65,000 students took to the streets to strike.
Holly Andrews, the regional representative of YouthStrike4Climate, emphasised the importance of the event and the haste with which governments must put policies in place to protect their planet.
“We urgently need governments and organisations across the world to act now if we’re to avoid the catastrophic effects that climate change will bring within our lifetime. We have to show to the Government that change is long overdue and we are no longer being complacent to acts of climate injustice.”
The protests are timely, as the effects of climate change are becoming ever clearer; from more frequent and intense extreme weather events like hurricanes and flooding, to rapidly melting sea-ice, glaciers and ice sheets in polar and alpine regions across the globe. According to an IPCC report published last year, communities across the globe only have twelve years left to make significant changes before the effects of climate change become absolutely catastrophic.
On March 15th, FridaysForFuture are organising a similar, global, ‘deep’ protest in which they hope to see a synchronising of protests happening in tandem in as many countries as possible.
Representatives from Extinction Rebellion Leeds are also expected to be in attendance. However, the YouthStrike4Climate Facebook event for the protest has stated that “any acts of civil disobedience that could result in arrest should be conducted under the name of XR, not Youth Strike 4 Climate.”
Don Pickworth
Image: [The Independent]