It’s Getting Hot in Here: Youth Call on All of Us to Join the Global Climate Strike

Record-shattering heat across Europe. Climate scientists being fired for trying to do their job in America. A grim report that the changes in the climate we’re experiencing now are unprecedented in 2000 years of human history. And up against all that? A bold movement led by young people who are saying, enough is enough.

We’re in the middle of a crisis, a climate crisis, but we’re not acting like it. And since the grownups have failed to take adequate action, young people are leading the way by organizing a Global Climate Strike on September 20 and 27.

We’ve all been asked to stand with them. Can we count you in?  

Find an event near you!

 

What Do You Do When Your House Is on Fire?

Our house is on fire, said the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)—we have just over a decade to begin to make unprecedented changes to how we power our society, our cars and houses and cities, or our climate, environment, and way of life will be rendered unrecognizable. 

Our house is on fire, say 99% of the planet’s climate scientists, reporting that there is irrefutable proof that humankind, through fossil-fuel emissions, is responsible for the warming climate. 

“Our house is on fire,” says Greta Thunberg, the Swedish high school student who started a global youth-led movement by actually doing something about it. Frustrated that her country’s leaders weren’t taking the crisis seriously enough, she started skipping school and sitting down in front of the Swedish parliament to protest their inaction.

Greta’s simple act sparked a movement, FridaysForFuture. Thousands upon thousands of students all around the world, members of what could be called the climate change generation, joined in the strike every Friday and soon began organizing and leading their own actions, demanding cuts to greenhouse gas emissions and climate justice for the world’s frontline and most vulnerable communities. 

 

Young People Are Leading the Way

Business as usual is no longer a viable plan. The Youth Climate Strike, held earlier this year in March, was the first global day of action directly inspired by Greta’s act. The Global Climate Strike builds on that event and could become the largest single day of action on climate change in world history. 

The marches all over the planet on September 20 and 27, in communities large and small, will ratchet up the pressure on politicians and policymakers. The youth organizers are calling on fellow students to join them and take to the streets. They’re calling on parents to follow the lead of their children, on workers to leave their jobs, on every person everywhere to raise their voices and be heard. 

The United Nations is hosting the Climate Action Summit on September 23 in New York City. Let’s make sure they hear us. Let’s make sure everyone hears us. Ready to stand with this amazing generation of student leaders and call for a just, fair, and fast transition to a 100% renewable energy economy? Then find an event near you!