THE YOUTH SPEAKS UP: Here’s what happened at Geelong City Hall
On their way to City Hall, the climate strikers passed the office of Richard Marles, Labor member of Parliament for Corio, whose speech is included in this video. Independent candidate in the federal election for Corangamite, Damien Cole, spoke at the city hall, where the microphone was open for anyone who wanted to say a few words. Heidi Fog spoke on behalf of the Victorian ResourceSmartSchool program. She can be contacted via www.heidifog.com.au
Two students from Kardinia International College organised this school strike for climate action in Geelong – a town of 230,000 residents, located 75 kilometres from Melbourne in Australia.
It’s our time to rise up’: youth climate strikes held in 100 countries
Think we should be at school? Today’s climate strike is the biggest lesson of all
Biggest climate action event ever
What started with one single student’s display of determination to make difference and call on the politicians’ inaction on climate change, has grown into a global youth movement. The co-ordinated global school strike on 15 March turned out historically as the biggest climate action event ever, with strikes taking place in around 2,000 cities in more than 100 countries.
Sydney saw a massive participation of more than 30,000 students and parents. Across Australia organisers counted 150,000 people taking part in 55 strikes around the country.
4 October 2018: Greta Thunberg in front of the coal power plant Moorburg in Hamburg, which is owned by the Swedish state-owned Vattenfall. On their website they call it “environmentally friendly”.
Greta’s amazing journey
In The Sustainable Hour, we have reported about Greta Thunberg‘s #FridaysForFuture youth rebellion since her first week sitting in front of the Swedish parliament in August 2018, and we will continue to do so.
If you’d like to learn how this youth movement came about, have a look at our first interview with Greta from 20 August 2018:
This interview has been viewed over 15,000 times on YouTube, (where Greta received warm, loving and passionate comments and recommendations in the comment thread underneath the video), and an excerpt from it was recently played in The Guardian’s podcast about Greta’s story.
» Grist – 14 March 2019:FOR WHOM THE NOBEL TOLLS: The best zingers from Greta Thunberg, 16-year-old Nobel Peace Prize nominee
In The Sustainable Hour on 24 October 2018 we aired the ‘audio-letter’ from 14-year-old Harriet and Milou in Castlemaine, who are mobilising an Australian school strike for the climate.
On 14 November, we interviewed two students at Kardinia International College, Laura Kelly and Jude Corbet, who explained why they are helping organising a school strike for climate action in Geelong.
Stay updated: You can subscribe to The Sustainable Hour’s podcast in iTunes, Stitcher and many other podcast apps. Or find the episodes here on www.climatesafety.info
Tweets from the #GlobalClimateStrike on 15 March
“Politicians have failed us. We’ve seen years of negotiations, pathetic deals on climate change, fossil fuel companies being given free rein to carve open our lands, drill beneath our soils and burn away our futures for their profit. We’ve seen fracking, deep sea drilling and coalmining continue. Politicians have known the truth about climate change and they’ve willingly handed over our future to profiteers whose search for quick cash threatens our very existence. This movement had to happen, we didn’t have a choice.”
» The Guardian – 15 March 2019:
Think we should be at school? Today’s climate strike is the biggest lesson of all
“We are among the young people striking against climate change in every corner of the globe – adults should join us too”
» News.com.au – 17 March 2019:
Malcolm Farr: ‘The public debate on the existence of climate change is over and we are owed an apology’
“Some elected politicians have been too frightened or deliberately manipulative to acknowledge this issue. It’s time, writes Malcolm Farr.”
» SBS News – 14 march 2019:
‘It’s our future’: Thousands of Australian students skip school to call for climate action
“Tens of thousands of school and university students have gathered in Australian cities, joining a global movement of young people demanding serious action on climate change.”
Live streaming for 300 virtual climate strikers
Both at the strike in Geelong and two hours later in Melbourne, #TheSustainableHour‘s Jackie Matthews was talking with students and supporting parents while streaming it live from her phone on Facebook. She had over 300 viewers following her reporting, and gave them all a “virtual place” at the venue.
This live-stream on Facebook was followed by 300 people while ‘on air’, and during its first 24 hours on the social media site, it reached over 6,000 people and was viewed almost 2,000 times.
‘Die-in’ in shopping mall
#FridaysForFuture live streaming from Waurn Ponds