By Morgane Mounier
PARIS, May 24 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Teenagers on the streets of Paris warned governments on Friday there would be no summer let-up in their efforts to push for stronger action on climate change, as international green campaigners called a global strike for Sept. 20.
“I should be at school, revising for my French baccalaureat – but I’d rather be here, for my future,” said Jules, 17, who only wanted to give his first name.
He and five friends decided to skip school despite end-of-year exams creeping up, to participate in what is thought to have been one of the biggest global climate actions by young people yet, mobilising hundreds of thousands.
Organisers expected strikes and demonstrations to happen in more than 1,600 places in 110 countries – from New Zealand to Syria and Venezuela.
By 1900GMT, nearly 2,500 strikes had been registered on the “Fridays for Future” website, with the number likely to rise.
The students are following in the footsteps of 16-year-old Greta Thunberg who has been credited with starting the movement.
Forty weeks ago, the Swedish climate activist started skipping school every Friday, to protest climate change outside Stockholm’s parliament, inspiring a large global strike on March 15, in which an estimated 1.5 million young people took part.
“I think politicians around the world think the movement will fade and that people will stop striking, especially with the summer break coming up,” said Laure Miro, 16, striking for the second time in Paris.
“The strikes keep getting bigger, more and more people are getting involved and we are very determined. We’re not going to stop here, after all this work,” she said.
“Greta spoke out, so we could act,” she added.
