More than 4 million people all across the globe went to the streets today calling on their governments to take immediate action to combat global climate change. The first rallies began shortly after sun rise in Australia, and then spread through the Pacific islands to India, Turkey, across Europe, finally landing in the United States.
The unprecedented youth turn out is largely attributed to 16-year-old Swedish activist Greta Thunberg who launched the movement “Fridays for Future” last year.[1] According to Euro News, “a total of 1,718 climate actions were planned throughout the globe, including 948 in Europe,”[2] and more than 800 marches were launched in the U.S.[3]
*Featured Image: Sydelle Willow Smith for The New York Times (Sept. 20, 2019).
[1] Rafael Cereceda, Millions of Young People March for Climate in Historic Mobilisation, EuroNews (Sept. 20, 2019), https://www.euronews.com/2019/09/20/global-climate-strikes-kick-off-ahead-of-un-summit-on-climate-change (last visited Sept. 20, 2019).
[2] Id.
[3] Scott Neuman and Bill Chappell, ‘We’re Young, But We’re Not Dumb’: Millions March In Global Climate Strike, NPR (Sept. 20, 2019), https://www.npr.org/2019/09/20/762629200/mass-protests-in-australia-kick-off-global-climate-strike-ahead-of-u-n-summit (last visited Sept. 20, 2019).
