Latest global school climate strikes expected to beat turnout record

(The Guardian, 24 May 2019) Organisers say more than 1.4 million young people are set to protest about the climate crisis.

Hundreds of thousands of children and young people are walking out of lessons around the world on Friday as the school strike movement continues to snowball.

Climate strikes were planned in more than 1,400 cities in more than 110 countries. Organisers say the number of young people taking part is set to top the 1.4 million people who participated in the global day of strikes in March.

The global campaign – inspired by Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg – comes amid increasing concern about the unfolding climate crisis, especially among young people.

Last year, the UN’s leading scientists warned that there were just 12 years to limit climate catastrophe. Earlier this month, another UN report warned that the widespread collapse of ecosystems was putting humanity itself at risk. And just last week it emerged that the Antarctic ice is melting much faster than previously feared and global atmospheric CO2 emissions reached a record level of 415ppm.

The school strike movement started in August when Thunberg, then 15, held a solo protest outside the Swedish parliament.

Since then hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren have taken part in strikes each week around the world from Australia to Canada, Ghana to Germany.

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The Guardian, 24 May 2019: Latest global school climate strikes expected to beat turnout record