Images by James Gourlay for the Durham University Charity Fashion Show 2019
Students and young activists are striking in more than 100 countries around the world today to demand government action on climate change. We look at the rising tide of young activists challenging governments and standing up for our planet to ensure a better future for generations to come.
Growing up in a social and political climate where #metoo and #blacklivesmatter are talked about on a daily basis and expressing your opinion on social media is as normal as taking to the women’s march, younger generations are becoming increasingly interested in making a positive change.
Gen Z are the first generation that will live almost the entirety of their lives with the repercussions of climate change, as we now have a little less than 12
years to limit irreversible climate change catastrophe – including extreme heat, drought, floods and poverty.
On February 15th, more than 10,000 UK school children from across 30 cities walked out of classrooms and marched for our planet, joined in Brighton by Green Party MP Caroline Lucas,
who has been fighting for greener initiatives in Parliament.
Today, they will strike again, joining thousands of school children in 1,769 places in 112 countries around the world who are protesting on #FridaysForFuture. The UK strike is being coordinated by school kids through an organisation they founded called Youth Strike 4 Climate. School children are normally only allowed time off school for medical reasons or ‘exceptional circumstances’, which led to
parents receiving a template letter to excuse the children’s absence with teachers that claims that “having only 12 years left to cut CO2 emissions by 50%, as per the latest UN IPCC report, is pretty dire and exceptional circumstances to find ourselves in. And it is in that light that I’m giving my child permission.”