A group of year eight students in central Victoria have kicked off the School Strike 4 Climate action this week. Read their letter below.
Hi everyone,
Our names are Milou and Harriet, and we are fourteen. We live in Castlemaine and are in year 8 at school. And we care about our futures.
We have decided to go on strike from school to make our politicians do something about the climate emergency. We’ve been inspired by Greta, a fifteen year old girl in Sweden, who has been striking from school in front of the Swedish parliament.
Climate change is one of the biggest problems facing the world and it isn’t being addressed quickly enough. We are striking because in Australia, education is viewed as immensely important, and a key way to make a difference in the world. But just going to school isn’t doing anything about climate change. And it doesn’t seem that our politicians are doing anything, or at least not enough, about climate change either.
As people, we have a tendency to think only of the present impacts of our actions, and not the ones that follow after. We, the children and teenagers, are going to be living in this world for decades to come and we don’t like the look of the way this climate is heading. This has to change!
So, as our contribution to the changes we would like to see, we are organising a strike from school. We are temporarily sacrificing our education in order to save our futures.
If you feel the same way, find a way to join us. If you don’t feel confident enough to come on strike, but still care, there are numerous other ways to help, like telling others about the climate emergency.
So, if you want to join us in striking, you could walk out of school, like us, in November and go and sit outside a politician’s office with your own climate strike sign. The biggest day for walking out of school will be Friday 30th November, when we hope lots of kids will join us at the steps of Parliament House in Melbourne at midday.
Yours truly,
Harriet and Milou