#SchoolStrike4Climate: An Introduction

In my first civic issue blog, I discussed the role of democracy, especially exercising freedoms of speech and assembly, in climate activism. I cited a few groups that have made international headway as a result of their demonstrations.

However, I was surprised while reading the post’s comments as some said they had never heard of some of these groups. More specifically, I was really surprised that people had not heard of the #SchoolStrike4Climate movement, which has been sweeping countries across the world.

In response to that, I thought it may be productive to discuss this growing global movement- how it began, where it stands on issues, and what they are doing now! So let’s dive into a brief overview of #SchoolStrike4Climate.

History

The story begins with a young girl, whose name I’m almost sure you have heard at least once over the past three years. In 2018, Greta Thunberg, a then 15-year-old from Stockholm, Sweden, started the #SchoolStrike4Climate movement when she started to skip school on Fridays. She started skipping every Friday to protest the Swedish government’s climate targets.

Thunberg began sitting outside of Sweden’s parliament in Stockholm on Aug. 20, 2018, posed with her infamous cardboard sign reading “Skolstrejk For Klimatet”. Thus, a movement and its icon were born.

After a few months of documenting her solo protests, Greta began to find her solo protests no longer consisted of just her, but rather was composed of an increasing number of people, especially children and teenagers. Thunberg began encouraging people, especially children and teens, as they subsequently were her main audience at the time, from different countries to peacefully protest against their government’s policies and lack of action regarding climate change.

As the movement gained traction, Greta became the face of the movement- inspiring individuals of all ages across the world to start to fight for a better future, thus providing the movement with a name for its organization: “Fridays for Future”.

Stances

Overall, the #SchoolStrike4Climate holds a progressive stance on the need for immediate climate action by all countries. They demand changes in areas such as current (negative) legislation, air quality, water quality and availability, greenhouse emissions, fossil fuel use, and many other subjects. They also demand climate justice as well as international cooperation by global leaders to make this happen.

According to Friday’s for Future, their demands, known currently as the Declaration of Lausanne, are simple and include (“Fridays for Future: Our Demands”):

1. Keep the global temperature rise below 1.5 °C compared to pre-industrial levels. 
2. Ensure climate justice and equity.
3. Listen to the best united science currently available. 

However, each strike also has individual components as each country (and even each city/area) has its own specific issues/shortcomings. For example, a #SchoolStrike4Climate in England focuses on demanding that the government declares a state of climate emergency and the implementation of a Green New Deal (“Our Demands”).

Over the past three years, the idea of intersectionality has also become more heavily integrated into the #SchoolStrike4Climate movement (if you need a refresher/introduction to intersectionality, check out this page ). A small act of protest in 2018 has truly, in the words of Sir David Attenborough, “aroused the world” into action.

Where #SchoolStrike4Climate is Now

Before the pandemic, #SchoolStrike4Climate had reached never-before-seen numbers of protestors around the world. In fact, the week-long protest in September of 2019 had over 7.6 million students and workers around the world walking out or skipping school/work to protest for a straight week. Strikes have happened in over about 125 countries (“Young people resume global climate strikes calling for urgent action”). Here is an actual data table with all participating countries along with attendance rates.

During the pandemic, the movement held a few protests (socially distanced and following individual country mandates) including the September 25th protest in 2020. On September 25th, “strikes were scheduled in at least 3,500 locations around the globe” (“Young people resume global climate strikes calling for urgent action”).

However, after over a year of not protesting in large numbers (due to COVID), #SchoolStrike4Climate held their first day of global protests again on March 19th, 2021. Once again following social distancing guidelines and individual country/city mandates, protestors took to the streets under the theme “No More Empty Promises”. While there is not any data yet on the protest, there was still a large turnout and presence on social media that Friday. 

What You Can Do

As I always say, being educated on the subject is the first step to creating change! So, continue to engage yourself in and learn about #SchoolStrike4Climate as it continues to grow. 

Of course, with COVID still being around, I cannot recommend that you go to any strikes until conditions have changed and/or you feel comfortable in doing so. However, I do encourage you to interact with Fridays for Future, whether that is by following them on Instagram, donating to their fund, or, like I said earlier, just staying informed. I’ve also attached some articles for you to read if you would like to learn more, as this was just a brief overview.

When COVID is over, though, I do encourage you to consider going to one of these protests, a peaceful and respectful one of course (they almost always are). If this is something you are passionate about or feel you have a personal stake in, exercise those democratic rights we have been focusing on all semester! 

Expand Your Horizons

“Our Demands”: https://ukscn.org/our-demands/

“Fridays for Future: Our Demands”: https://fridaysforfuture.org/what-we-do/our-demands/

“Young people resume global climate strikes calling for urgent action”: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/sep/25/young-people-resume-global-climate-strikes-calling-urgent-action-greta-thunberg

“Climate crisis: 6 million people join latest wave of global protests”: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/sep/27/climate-crisis-6-million-people-join-latest-wave-of-worldwide-protests

List of climate strikes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_school_climate_strikes

“Greta Thunberg: Who is she and what does she want?”: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-49918719#:~:text=Initially%2C%20her%20protests%20focused%20on,more%20to%20cut%20global%20emissions.

Global Climate Strike : https://globalclimatestrike.net/

School Climate Strikes (multiple articles): https://www.theguardian.com/environment/school-climate-strikes