Inverell youth will strike on Friday, November 30 to give politicians a climate change lesson.
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The #climatestrike will see students in each state capital and across 20 regional Australian centres walk out of their classrooms calling for political support.
The nation-wide movement, School Strike 4 Climate Action, was inspired by a 15-year-old Swedish student Greta Thunberg, who started boycotting classes in the name of climate action.
Led locally by Inverell High School captain Ruby Walker, students will host the informative strike at Campbell Park from 9am.
Three guest speakers including Labor’s Debra O’Brien, Inverell’s Glen Morris and Deepwater’s David Townes will share their opinions on climate change.
“We’ll also have an information table about climate change and why we are striking so the whole community can understand why this is important to us,” Ruby said.
The school captain first saw news of the movement on Facebook. Before long she had created an event and invited all local students to get involved.
Ruby has used her social media as a platform to educate her peers on the effects of climate change.
We want to see political climate action.
- Ruby Walker.
“I’ve also been trying to talk to as many students as I can and get friends to spread the word. We may be young but it doesn’t mean we are not informed on the issue.
“A lot of people have said ‘you don’t know what you’re talking about’ but we have done our research and have seen the effects. We want to see political climate action.”
As the future generation who will inherit the “havoc fossil fuels play on the environment”, Ruby said it was time for politicians to implement better environmental policies.
“If you don’t have a flourishing environment and climate you don’t have anything, and that’s my future.
“It’s so painful to see adults in a position of power not thinking about sustainable energy, all they care about is getting money as quickly as possible to boost the economy.”
The movement is calling for Australia to “move forward like the rest of the world” and move away from coal and gas; becoming 100 per cent renewable.
Ruby said the effects of climate change could be seen and felt.
“The summers we are having are getting hotter and hotter, and now we’re living in almost 100 per cent drought. The Barrier Reef is dying and our general pollution is not good enough.”
Will you join Ruby on Friday? For more information head to www.schoolstrike4climate.com.
