Inspirational Uprising: International School Strike for Climate

On Friday 15 March 2019 over 1.4 million people in 2083 places in 125 countries in all continents participated in the School Strike for Climate. We were at the Melbourne protest to show our support for this cause and to capture this inspirational event on camera.

On Friday 15 March 2019 over 1.4 million people in 2083 places in 125 countries in all continents participated in the School Strike for Climate and 150,000 students took to the streets for climate action around Australia. We were at the Melbourne protest to show our support for this cause and to capture this inspirational event on camera.

I joined the protest last minute, so I didn't have a sign of my own, but I was glad I could be one of the 1.4 million to show my support for this cause and lend my voice to the fight.

Give her the Nobel Peace Prize

The strike took place due to Greta Thunberg, who has been calling out the need to act like the climate crisis is a crisis and has now been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. The 16-year-old has encouraged students to skip school to join protests to demand faster action on climate change.

It all started on 20 August when Greta skipped school and sat with a painted sign and some homemade flyers in front of the Swedish parliament. She asks, “What is the point of learning facts when the most important facts given by the finest scientists are ignored by our politicians?”

This solo protest and her speech at the COP24 UN Climate Change Conference 2018 in Katowice, Poland, where she spoke as a representative for future generations, has inspired millions and led to worldwide protests.

Her most famous quote is: “We don’t want your hope. We don’t want you to be hopeful. We want you to panic.”

Melbourne takes to the streets

The Australian brand of the School Strike for Climate were “striking from school to tell our politicians to take our futures seriously and treat climate change for what it is - a crisis”. They asked them to “show us that they care by taking urgent action to move Australia beyond fossil fuel projects (e.g. #stopadani's mega coal mine) and get the job done of moving us to 100% renewable energy for all”.

What’s next? School Strike 4 Climate Australia says the next steps are: further strikes, Climate Election Kickstarters and Candidate Forums to put climate change front and centre of the Federal Election.

View the photo gallery below to view a few scenes from the Melbourne School Strike for Climate and see some of my favourite protest signs of the day and some incredible kids and young adults and adults fighting for action on climate change.