Students blame governments forinaction on climate change

Image 1. Hundreds of schoolchildren take part in a climate protest in Hong Kong, China, on March 15, 2019. Students in morethan 80 countries and territories worldwide skipped class that day to protest their governments' failure to act against globalwarming. The coordinated "school strike" was inspired by 16-year-old activist Greta Thunberg, who began holding solitarydemonstrations outside the Swedish parliament last year. Photo by: AP Photo/Kin Cheung

BERLIN, Germany — Students around the world who mobilized by word of mouthand social media skipped class on Friday in a massive protest. Students want toraise awareness about their governments failing to take tough action againstglobal warming.

The March 15 rallies were one of the biggest international climate change actionsyet. They involved hundreds of thousands of students in more than 100 countriesaround the globe.

The coordinated "school strikes" were inspired by 16-year-old Swedish activistGreta Thunberg. She began holding solitary demonstrations outside the Swedishparliament last year.

By Associated Press, adapted by Newsela staff on 03.19.19 Word Count 986 Level 1070L

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Since then, the weekly protests havesnowballed from a handful of cities tohundreds, fueled by dramatic headlinesabout the effect of climate change duringthe students' lifetime. Scientists havebacked the protests. Thousands in GreatBritain, Finland, Germany and the U.S. havesigned petitions supporting the students.

Thunberg was recently nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. She spoke at aMarch 15 rally in Stockholm, Sweden. She said the world faces "the biggest crisishumanity ever has faced and still it has been ignored for decades."

"And you know who you are, you that have ignored this," she said.

French President Faces Criticism

Across the globe, protests big and small urged politicians to act against climatechange while also highlighting environmental problems.

In India's capital of New Delhi, schoolchildren protested inaction on climatechange. They demanded that authorities tackle rising air pollution levels in thecountry, which often far exceed World Health Organization limits.

In Paris, France, teenagers crowded the cobblestoned streets around the domedPantheon building. Some criticized French President Emmanuel Macron. Macronsees himself as one of the main supporters behind the 2015 Paris climateagreement.

In 2015, world leaders agreed in Paris to a goal of controlling the temperaturerise. They said they must keep the Earth's temperature rise by the end of thecentury well below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) compared withpre-industrial times. This was the time before businesses and factories wereburning fossil fuels on a large scale.

The world has already warmed by 1 degree Celsius since the pre-industrial days.It is on track for an increase of 4 degrees Celsius, which experts say would havefar-reaching consequences for life on the planet.

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Despite his support for the Paris deal, Macron is criticized by activists for beingtoo business-friendly and not eager enough in efforts to reduce emissions of fossilfuels.

Young People Can Make A Difference

It was Paris high school student Raphael Devautour's first protest. He compared itto peace protests starting in the late 1960s. "We can feel that something ishappening," he said. "When the youths start acting, it gets things moving."

In South Africa's capital, Pretoria, oneprotester held a sign reading, "You'll MissThe Rains Down in Africa." This was areference to the famous song by the bandToto. Experts say the continent of Africa,with its population of more than 1 billionpeople, is expected to be hardest hit byglobal warming. This is true even thoughAfrica contributes the least to greenhousegas emissions. Greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide (CO2), methane, nitrousoxide and ozone, cause heat to stay trapped in Earth's atmosphere. Scientistsbelieve this has directly caused the temperature rise.

Thousands marched in Warsaw, Poland, and other Polish cities to demand a banon burning coal, a major source of carbon dioxide.

Speakers at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., stood behind a banner saying,"We don't want to die."

Protests in Madrid, Spain, and more than 50 other Spanish cities drew thousands.The country is threatened by rising sea levels and rapid desertification. This is theprocess by which fertile land that could once be used to grow crops turns todesert. The area loses its bodies of water, vegetation and wildlife.

In Berlin, Germany, police said as many as 20,000 protesters gathered in adowntown square. They waved signs such as "March now or swim later" beforemarching through the German capital to Chancellor Angela Merkel's office.

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Protests Come Together Quickly

Carla Reemtsma is a 20-year-old student who helped organize the protest inBerlin. She's part of about 50 WhatsApp groups devoted to discussing climatechange.

"A lot happens on social media because you can reach a lot of young people veryquickly," she said.

Azalea Danes is a student at the Bronx High School of Science in New York City.She wasn't a climate activist until two weeks ago when she read about Thunberg'sefforts. Now she is one of the main organizers of the youth climate strike in NewYork City, where she organized thousands to rally in three places on March 15.

That shows how these protests are organized from the bottom up, she said.

Volker Quaschning, a professor of engineering at Berlin's University of AppliedSciences, said it was easy for politicians to belittle students.

Support For Students

"That's why they need our support," he said. Quaschning added that if people donothing, parts of Earth could be unlivable by 2099.

However, some politicians praised the students. Denmark's Prime Minister LarsLoekke Rasmussen showed up at the protest in his country's capital ofCopenhagen and tweeted, "We must listen to the youth. Especially when they'reright."

Scientists have warned for decades that current levels of greenhouse gasemissions are dangerous to the Earth. So far, there's still been little change.

In Stockholm, Thunberg predicted students won't let up their climate protests.

"We are on strike because we do want a future," Thunberg said.

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