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School strike 4 climate – live!

  • By Ciara Regan

17:10

That’s a wrap from me on the live-blog for today.

We’ll be back with more round-ups of the global reach and impact of the global school strike. Thanks for the emails and tweets and photos! We’ll ready more for sharing on the website after in the coming days once we’ve sifted through the mountain.

(ps – the Dublin march was reportedly attended by upwards of 10,000 people and the Cork march of around 5,000 students. We’ll be back to share the national and global tallies!).

16:58

A couple of op-eds

Sophie Sleeman has written an opinion piece in The Guardian on the power of the student strikes:

In ant colonies, large populations are sustained through the interactions between individual ants. There is little centralised authority in the most resilient colonies. On social media, teenagers have also been swept up in self-organisation, spreading their message from group to group, country to country, with the only central authority being the collective fear we all share.

Father / daughter op-ed by Sophie and John Gibbons featured in the Irish Times today (Sophie here):

Only a few months ago in Dún Laoghaire, there was a spillage of millions of plastic shards from a building site right into the sea, doing unimaginable damage to the ecosystem right beside where I live. There was an attempt to clean it up by the local people, but it was mostly left unnoticed. This sort of thing, and much worse, is happening all the time and we are doing almost nothing to stop it.

16:50

The digital landslide

Keeping up with the landslide of photos, videos and updates on social media will need ten people working around the clock for a year to dig through. In saying that, here are some more updates from school strike events around the world.

(start with this slideshow curated by The Guardian)

 

Matthew Taylor of The Guardian (UK)

And Australia:

16:39

A couple of photos sent in by Tony Daly of Dublin’s strike event.

Students on the move on Dawson Street at the Schools Strike 4 Climate event, Dublin. Photo: Tony Daly/developmenteducation.ie (March 15, 2019)
Students battling the wind on Dawson Street during the Schools Strike 4 Climate event, Dublin. Photo: Tony Daly/developmenteducation.ie (March 15, 2019)

13:50

Update from Tony Daly in Dublin

13:30

We are facing the greatest existential crisis humanity has ever faced. And yet it is being ignored. You who have ignored it know who you are.

– Greta Thunberg

13:15

Some global updates:

13:00

A damp day in Munich, but great to see the commitment from students there despite the weather

 

 
 
 
 
 
View this post on Instagram
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

Climate strike, Munich, damp

A post shared by Chris Doyle (@hifi_lowbrow) on

12:50

Students demands:

The students are calling on the Government to declare a “climate emergency” and have issued a list of six demands to lawmakers.

The demands, which were based on a survey sent to students across the country, include:

  • A transition to 100% renewable energy by 2030 and a pledge to leave all Irish fossil fuels in the ground.
  • A “climate emergency” declaration – including a national information campaign.
  • A “socially fair” transition to a carbon-neutral society, preventing need for regular citizens to carry the economic burden.
  • Immediate implementation of all the recommendations of the Citizens’ Assembly on Climate Change
  • Stronger regulations on corporations that are causing the climate crisis.
  • The implementation of a ‘Green New Deal’ that ensures all young school leavers can have livelihoods that don’t damage the planet.

12:40

So, why exactly are so many students taking to the streets today? Second Year Student Molly Mercier-Richmond, from North Wicklow Educate Together says:

the protests are aimed at waking people up to the true gravity of the situation facing the world. I don’t think everybody fully understands how important it really is; that we really need to take action. A lot of people say there are 11 years left until the tipping point where there is no return. I think when you think of it like that, it really does strike you that you have to do something now.

12:35

Holy Mackerel is right John! Wow!

12:30

And updates from the People’s Republic:

12:15

Some updates from Dublin:

12:00

Looking at all of the posts on social media and mainstream media, there is incredible momentum building. There are hundreds of thousands of students out today, using their voice, speaking from the heart and it is SO powerful.

Its still not to late to join a protest that may be near you, check out the Schools Climate Action Network site for locations, or with your local schools

11:50

Sri Lankan students planting trees in solidarity with those striking around the world and asking ‘What is the government doing?’

 

 
 
 
 
 
View this post on Instagram
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

Koslanda Living Heritage is committed to preservation of Sri Lanka’s rain forests and preserving the environment. As part of this commitment. Living Heritage is engaged with local schools; donating sapling trees for the children to plant on school campuses and presenting environmental education programs on global warming, onthe benefits of afforestation (tree planting) to counter carbon emissions, and on plastic waste education to the children. On March 14, 15 and 18 Koslanda Living Heritage brings these presentations and tree planting parties into 3 local schools. In solidarity with children’ worldwide school strikes, Koslanda children today planted 60 trees and ask “What is the government doing?” . . . . #livingheritagekoslanda #koslanda #fridaysforfuture #climatestrike #schoolstrike4climate #Peopleforfuture #reforestation #doitlikegreta #plasticfreeliving #sustainabletravel #climatechangeisreal #sustainabletourism #makeadifference #bethechange #youthactivism #youthforclimate #responsibletravel #srilanka #srilankadaily #hashtagsrilanka #travelbetter #transformativetravel #responsibletourism #saveourplanet #ethicaltravel #greentourism #ecotourism #visitsrilanka

A post shared by Living Heritage Koslanda (@livingheritagekoslanda) on

11:40

Last night’s update from the incredible young woman who started it all, Greta Thunberg, who has now been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize  

11:30

Just to give an idea of the scale of events today, here is the world view on how many protests are happening from Fridays For Future

11:25

Haka for Climate change from Nelson College in New Zealand – powerful stuff!

https://twitter.com/NaomiArnold/status/1106344604700282881?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1106344604700282881&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fenvironment%2Flive%2F2019%2Fmar%2F15%2Fclimate-strikes-2019-live-latest-climate-change-global-warming%3Fpage%3Dwith%253Ablock-5c8b191be4b0cf92e5a576d5

11:06

Looks like at LEAST 50,000 students in Melbourne this morning – Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!!

 

11:00

Good morning and welcome to our live blog on today’s climate strikes here in Ireland and around the world where many have already begun from Hong Kong to Australia, South Africa to France. Please do send on any information and images which you would like to have featured to ciara@developmenteducation.ie.

And to all the young people marching – you are an inspiration!

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