Huge numbers of children skipped school Friday to join a global strike
against climate change that teen activist Greta Thunberg hopes will mark
a turning point in persuading leaders to act against environmental
disaster.
Chanting slogans and waving placards, youngsters and adults filled the
streets of cities across the world in what was expected to be the
biggest ever protest against the threat posed to the planet by warming
temperatures.
Demonstrations across Asia and the Pacific kicked off the day of action,
which spread to Africa and Europe, with crowds turning out in Paris,
London and Berlin, before nearing their completion in the United States
where Thunberg rallied.
"I hope this will be another social tipping point that we show how many
people are engaged, how many people are putting pressure on leaders,"
the 16-year-old told AFP in New York.
Organizers forecast protests in more than 5,000 locations across 137
countries. In Australia alone, they said more than 300,000 children,
parents and supporters rallied.
Although there was no official turnout, Thunberg said "millions" had participated.
"It can't go on any longer. We are at the end of our planet," said
Bernie Waldman, 14, one of thousands to protest in New York, where 1.1
million students were permitted to skip school for the event.
In Slovakia, five-year-old Teo asked a crowd of 500 "not to cut down
forests, and reduce garbage production, and not to use so many
petrol-fuelled cars."
"Stop climate change now" and "There is no planet B" read some of the
signs brandished by demonstrators in a trendy central shopping district
of Tokyo.
"We adults caused this planet emergency. We should take our responsibilities for the next generation," said Chika Maruta, 32.
- 'We deserve better' -
Swedish schoolgirl Thunberg called on leaders to act now to curb gas emissions.
"Now we have proven what we can do, now they have to prove what they can
(do). They need to take their responsibility," she said.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel used Friday to pledge at least 100
billion euros by 2030 to tackle emissions in the energy and industrial
sectors, boost zero tailpipe emission electric vehicles, and get
passengers out of planes and onto trains.
About 200 marched in Ghana's capital Accra, where some 44 percent of the
country's population has not heard of climate change, according to a
study by Afrobarometer.
"Developing countries like Ghana are the most affected. We don't have
the resources to adapt to climate change," said 26-year-old protest
organizer Ellen Lindsey Awuku.
Hundreds also took to the streets in Kenya and Uganda.
Events began in the deluge-threatened Pacific Islands of Vanuatu, the
Solomons and Kiribati, where children chanted: "We are not sinking, we
are fighting."
The defiance message was heard across Asia.
"We are the future and we deserve better," 12-year-old Lilly
Satidtanasarn -- known as "Thailand's Greta" for her campaign against
plastic bags in malls -- told AFP in Bangkok.
- 'You're being lied to' -
In Australia, some local authorities, schools and businesses encouraged people to participate in the strikes.
Australia has been struck in recent years by droughts, more intense
bushfires, devastating floods and the blanching of the Great Barrier
Reef -- phenomena blamed on a changing climate.
Numerous peer-reviewed scientific studies have shown a link between human-made gas emissions and climate change.
But the protests also highlighted resistance from those who question the threat.
Australian ruling coalition parliamentarian Craig Kelly told children Thursday that "everything you're told is a lie."
"The facts are, there is no link between climate change and drought, polar bears are increasing in number."
- Businesses taking action -
An increasing number of businesses backed the protests.
Amazon chief Jeff Bezos pledged Thursday to make the US retail giant
carbon neutral by 2040 and encouraged other firms to do likewise.
Friday's mass action set the scene for a range of high-profile climate events in New York.
A Youth Climate Summit will take place at the United Nations on Saturday.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will then host an emergency summit
on Monday in which he will urge world leaders to raise their
commitments made in the 2015 Paris climate accord.
The agreement saw countries pledge to limit the long-term rise in the
average temperature of the Earth to two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees
Fahrenheit) over pre-industrial levels, and if possible, to 1.5 degrees
Celsius.
A landmark UN report to be unveiled next week will warn that global
warming and pollution are ravaging Earth's oceans and icy regions in
ways that could unleash misery on a global scale.
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