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Inspiring Photos Of Kids Around The World Demanding Action On The Climate Crisis
Hordes of children took to the streets en mass in cities and towns around the world on Friday for an international protest demanding action on climate change. From San Francisco to New York City, London to Berlin, Sydney to Melbourne, Friday's Global Climate Strike is slated to happen in more than 4,500 locations spread across 120 countries. Indeed, photos of kids on Climate Strike show just how impassioned these young activists are.
In Australia, one of the first countries to kick of Friday's Global Climate Strike, some 300,000 strikers are estimated to have taken to the streets in more than 110 cities, including Melbourne and Sydney, according to School Strike 4 Climate. In London, NBC News reported that thousands of strikers gathered outside the House of Parliament to demand a U.K. leaders "save our planet." In India, a country well-known for its air pollution, dozens of students are reported to have marched in New Dehli, according to NBC News.
Many of the youth striking today have been inspired and energized into activism by Greta Thunberg, a 16-year-old Swedish climate activist who Vox reported has been skipping school every Friday to protest policymakers' inaction on climate change outside Swedish Parliament since August 2018. And while the Global Climate Strike is certainly a youth-led movement, kids haven't been the only ones on strike. Parents, educators, environmental organizations, various tech and business company employees, and even some politicians have all joined in the Global Climate Strike to amplify young activists' voices and send world leaders a unified message: the time for climate action is now.
"We young people are building this up," Thunberg recently told Teen Vogue about the global climate change protests. "[Adults] always say they have listened to us, so this is a chance for them to prove it."
There Is No Planet B
Students of various ages took to the streets in Berlin, Germany, on Friday for the city's Fridays For Future protest, gathering in front of Brandenburg Gate to demand German legislators take action to enact policies aimed at combating climate change.
Families That Protest Together...
In cities around the world, many parents made it a priority to skip work and join their children for Fridays for Future marches. Many even marched together, like this mother-daughter pair photographed in Frankfurt, Germany.
A Truly Global Movement
Friday's climate strike turned out to be a truly global movement, as evidenced by photographs from marches held in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Young Activists Had A Message For Their Elders
At London's Fridays for Future march and rally, one young activists held a hand-painted sign up that read, "You'll die of old age, we'll die of climate change."
Skolstrejk För Klimatet (School Strike For The Climate)
Thunberg continued her tradition of striking from school to demand action on climate change on Friday. But this time she took her strike to the streets of New York City instead of Swedish Parliament.
Not That Kind Of Hot Girl Summer
In Sydney, Australia, a group of striking school girls held aloft a hand-painted sign that read, "This is not what we meant by hot girl summer," while chanting in The Domain.
There Is No Meditation On A Dead Planet
Friday's Global Climate Strike reached the capital of Nepal. Young monks were photographed striking for climate action in Katmandu.
When Children Act Like Leaders
Young girls protested during a climate strike rally in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Among them, one girl held a sign that read, "You know it's time for change when children act like leaders and leaders act like children."
The youth-led movement started Friday is expected to continue in cities and countries around the world with another climate strike organized for Sept. 27. And considering today's turnout, there's no doubt these youth activists will stay motivated until world leaders take the future of the environment as seriously as they do.
