New York, NY – Hundreds of New York City students, young people and climate activists gathered at Columbus Circle for a rally followed by a march and die-in to Times Square on May 24, 2019 to join countries around the world in the second ever Global Climate Strike, demanding that NYC Mayor Bill DeBlasio follow the UK, Ireland and countless cities around the world who have declared a Climate Emergency.
The first Global Climate Strike was held on March 15, 2019. During that week, there were at least 1.6 million strikers on all 7 continents, in more than 125 countries and in well over 2000 places.
The protests called for politicians to take immediate action to combat climate change and New York City students agreed. At 2pm on March 15th, five thousand students rallied at Columbus Circle, walking out of their classes to demand that New York City take action.
On May 24, young people and students are again taking to the streets in another major Global Climate Strike. They will be leaving their classes demanding political action to counter the deepening ongoing climate crisis.
#FridaysForFuture is a movement that began in August 2018, after 15 years old Greta Thunberg sat in front of the Swedish parliament every school day for three weeks, to protest against the lack of action on the climate crisis. She posted what she was doing on Instagram and Twitter and it soon went viral.
On the 8th of September, Greta decided to continue striking every Friday until the Swedish policies provided a safe pathway well under 2-degree C, i.e. in line with the Paris agreement.
The school climate strikes have made waves across the world. Last year in Sweden, Greta Thunberg sounded the alarm on the need for bold climate action. Shortly after she was joined by youth around the world demanding that we wake up and address the climate crisis.
Here are some general guidelines:
- Fridays for Future want you to only strike in a way, that you feel safe with.
- Many Fridays For Future strikers have a police approval for their strike.
- It is common for these approvals to only allow for a quiet, sitting protest.
- Fridays for Future are unlikely to be able to provide legal support if there are problems, so FFF advises strikers to liase with local NGOs. These NGOs usually know local lawyers, who are well versed in protest situations.
- We are a peaceful striking organization, but unfortunately we have already seen examples in some countries, where some individuals or organizations try to join a strike for the purpose of causing trouble. Please take care and prioritize your own safety.
The hashtags #FridaysForFuture and #Climatestrike spread and many students and adults began to protest outside of their parliaments and local city halls all over the world. This has also inspired the Belgium Thursday school strikes.
© Erik McGregor – erikrivas@hotmail.com – 917-225-8963