By Amelie Francisco
All across the world, people are striking for climate justice. Rallies and protests take over the streets of major cities and small towns. The goal of these rallies is to spark change and influence governments and corporations to create greener policies and to become more sustainable. Sustainable policies will protect our planet and therefore our future. People have finally realized that we need radical change now and the climate rallies will hopefully influence that.
Students everywhere have strong feelings about the climate crisis and got the chance to demonstrate their passion for the movement during the climate strikes. Some cities have even gone as far as giving permission to all students to skip school. Young people need to fight for a sustainable future because if we don’t then we don’t have a future, simple as that. The fact that the climate crisis is not being treated as a serious issue by much of the older generation is infuriating because by not converting to sustainable methods they are saying that money is more important to them than the entire planet and the future of every young person on it. Youth are on the front lines of this movement; teenagers such as Greta Thunberg, who is an environmental activist and is leading the school strike for climate action movement, are creating the most difference because our politicians simply aren’t doing enough. The strikes and rallies pressure our government to change, to reform, to save the planet we rely on. Climate change is the most pressing issue right now and if we don’t fight to stop it our ice caps will melt, our ecosystems will die out, our wildlife will disappear and our once beautiful planet will become a desolate wasteland.
Climate change is much more pressing than many people realize and the climate strikes are trying to bring awareness to how important the issue really is right now. Climate change is already drastically affecting all of us, from a detrimental increase in forest fires to rising ocean levels and extreme storms destroying towns, the world is suffering and if we don’t do something now we’re all going to have to face the extreme consequences of our actions and the actions of the generations before us. There is still time to change but there is very little, so next time there’s a rally or a strike join in and fight for climate justice.