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Thousands of climate strikes are expected to take place, Friday, 25 September, across the globe to demand urgent action to tackle the climate crisis. Actions will be in the streets where COVID-19 regulations allow, as well as online. Street protests will follow local COVID-19 and social distancing guidelines.
This is coming as youth strikers from MAPA countries (Most Affected People and Areas),
Mitzi Jonelle Tan (Philippines), Eyal Weintraub (Argentina), Disha A
Ravi (India), Kevin Mtai (Kenya), Laura Veronica Muñoz (Colombia), were joined by Greta Thunberg from Sweden to announce a new wave of global climate strikes.
As extreme weather events, fires and floods driven by the climate crises accelerate across the world, the strikes are a reminder to those in power that the climate crisis has not gone away.
Last year, millions of people took to the streets to demand climate
action. Politicians and the media congratulated the youth and portrayed them as beacons of hope. However, with those same leaders’ inaction, there was never a cause for celebration. For the youth in the areas most affected by the climate crisis, 2019 was not a year for festivities: it was a struggle. Millions of people had to abandon their homes and it was one of the hottest years on record.
With the global pandemic proving that our system cannot handle a serious crisis, now is the perfect opportunity to have a just recovery and build a better normal.
Commenting on the planned actions, one of the youth leaders, Kevin Mtai from Kenya, said: “The climate crisis is already having a huge impact on communities like mine in Africa. Unprecedented heavy rains and record floods across West, Central and East Africa have affected millions of people in recent weeks, with more than 200 people dead and hundreds of thousands left homeless. In the US there are devastating wildfires, climate breakdown is not something that is going to happen in the future, it is here and now.”
For Mitzi Jonelle Tan from Philippines, “The Global South, or the Most Affected People and Areas (MAPA), are those that experience the worst impacts of the climate crisis. Despite being the ones to bear the brunt of the extreme calamities, we are continuously ignored, and underrepresented in places of power. There is a pressing need for our voices to be heard all over the world,especially in the global climate movement, and for the carbon majors historically responsible for this crisis to act immediately. Carbon majors, the US, EU, China, Shell, BP, Exxon, Chevron, we are calling you out. You have a responsibility to the world, especially to us most affected.”
Laura Verónica Muñoz, a youth climate leader from Colombia, said: “In Colombia, defending the land, nature and human rights means putting your life at risk. In 2019, 212 environmental leaders were killed, more than half of these cases happened in only two countries: Colombia and the Philippines. During the pandemic we have seen police killing indiscriminately young people who go out to protest; corrupt politicians who care more about their pockets than about the exacerbated inequality; and projects that seek to exploit our natural resources for the benefit of foreign companies. This September 25th we are going to mobilize to defend life, nature and demand the ratification of the Escazú Agreement.”
Disha Ravi from India said: “In India, people continue to suffer because of laws that are anti-people. We live in a country where dissent is suppressed. We in Fridays For Future India were labelled terrorists for objecting to the draft EIA notification. Only a government that puts profit over people would consider asking for clean air, clean water and a liveable planet, an act of terrorism. We will continue this fight because stopping would mean no water to drink, no air to breathe and no land to live for the marginalised communities. The government needs to work with the people to protect the people. The time for prevention is over, we need recovery and a just transition.”
For Nicole Becker from Argentina,
“Argentina and all of Latin America is on fire. Our region is lighting
up as a consequence of 5 centuries of pillaging, extractivism and
colonization. If we don’t take into account the environmental debt of
the North to the South and how this affected the gigantic external debts
that our countries have, it is impossible to resolve the climate crisis in a just way.”
Greta Thunberg from Sweden said: “Extreme weather driven by the climate crisis is accelerating around the world, and yet we still don’t treat it as a crisis. We are in a global emergency that affects all of us. However, not everyone is suffering its consequences equally and the media ignore the devastation in global south countries being disproportionately hit. Next Friday, 25th September, Fridays For Future and the youth climate movement will strike again around the world, in a safe way and following Covid-19 guidelines, to demand those in power treat this like the urgent crisis it is.”
Nicole Becker – Argentina
I am 19 years old, a student, and a climate activist from Buenos Aires, Argentina. When I started to understand that climate change is a social issue, and not just an environmental one, I co-founded Jóvenes Por El Clima, a movement that talks about climate change from a Latin American and human rights perspective. In 2019, we successfully pushed to have the country declare a Climate and Ecological Emergency and to sanction the first Climate Change Law. In March 2020, I was selected as one of the Escazú Champions, with the aim of ratifying the Escazú Agreement and I spoke in the Argentine congress to demand climate action. Also, I was selected by the Argentine Congress as one of the most outstanding women in the country because of my role in creating the climate movement.
Why are you striking?
I am striking because I believe this is the best way to show that there are millions of us who demand climate action, and that it is our greatest tool to raise our voice. Argentina and my entire region are on fire, and this is the future that world leaders are leaving to my generation. My country is suffering a huge economic crisis and due to Covid-19 and more and more people are in a situation of poverty, so they don’t have the resources to face the impacts of the climate crisis,
What action would you like to see on climate in 2020
In Argentina, wetlands represent 25% of our national territory, however, there is no law that regulates them. #LeydeHumedalesYa is one of our greatest demands. On the other hand, at the regional level, the most important thing is that the states commit to putting out the fires and ratifying the Escazu agreement. I hope the pandemic helps us realize that health and the human right to a healthy environment have to be a priority, so the “new normal” has to include a just recovery and a just transition away from fossil fuels.
Kevin Mtai – Eldoret, Kenya
I am a climate activist and environmentalist from Soy, Kenya. I am the Africa Continental Co-ordinator for Earth Uprising, member of Global children’s Campaign and a Campaigner for Climate friendly food at the UN Climate Conference.
Why are you striking?
I am striking for a future for myself and my peers. We can achieve a better future than the one we face, if we immediately take action to invest heavily in renewable energy capacity and stop the burning of fossil fuels. To meet the targets set out by the Paris Agreement, we cannot afford to waste more time. The climate crisis is already having a huge impact on communities. Recently East Africa has experienced all kinds of effects of climate change like an invasion by a desert swarm of locusts, windstorms, a severe drought, landslides and floods due to huge rainfall. If we see global temperature rise much further, the consequences will be unimaginable.
What action are you like to see on climate in 2020
I would like to see world leaders understand and follow what science says we must do. They must believe scientists and adjust their policies accordingly. Covid-19 has shown us that politicians can treat a crisis like a crisis if they want to, and that we have the capacity to repair our earth.
Mitzi Jonelle Tan – Manila, Philippines
I am Mitzi Jonelle Tan from Manila, Philippines, lead convener of Youth Advocates for Climate Action Philippines (YACAP). A vivid and constant memory I have from my childhood is having days of candle-lit dinners when we had no electricity because of typhoons hitting. I remember being scared of the huge trees being uprooted that could fall on our house anytime and the strong winds outside that were howling. In 2017, I was integrating with the Lumad indigenous people, and one of the leaders told us about how they were being displaced, harassed, and killed just for protecting their lands and the environment from extractive mining companies. The simplicity of how he said in passing that there is no choice but to fight back and become activists made me realize that individual lifestyle change was not enough. Since then I have been very passionate about demanding climate justice — particularly in the context of places like the Philippines, which is disproportionately impacted by the climate crisis and is always part of the top three countries most dangerous in the world for environmental defenders.
Why are you striking?
The Philippines is the second most vulnerable country to the climate crisis, yet our contribution to the global greenhouse gas emissions are so minimal. With this planetary emergency, common sense would dictate that climate would be at the top of the agenda and those already protecting the environment would be listened to. Instead, we have no concrete climate plans, our environmental activists and defenders are being killed, harassed, and displaced. The willful ignorance of world leaders is pushing us all to become climate activists, pushing us all to strike for justice. I am an activist because of my deep love for the people and the environment, a love that binds me to the movement calling for climate and social justice.
What action would you like to see on climate in 2020
In the Philippines, we need to declare a people’s defined climate emergency and impose a moratorium on any new dirty energy projects. We then need to start developing and prioritizing research and development into renewable energy and consulting with the people, especially the workers, on how to begin our just transition. Empowering the youth and those most vulnerable with knowledge is also a key part in ensuring active citizen participation in climate policy building. We also need our national leaders to echo the voices of the youth and the environmental defenders in the international spaces to demand climate justice and that carbon majors drastically reduce their carbon dioxide emissions now. All this, and more, is needed if we want to survive.
Disha A Ravi – Bangalore, India
I’m Disha A Ravi, co-founder of Fridays For Future, India. My motivation to join climate activism came from seeing my grandparents, who are farmers, struggle with the effects of the climate crisis. At the time, I wasn’t aware that what they were experiencing was the climate crisis because climate education is non-existent where I’m from. Only when I did my research, did I find out about it. Millions of people are affected by the climate crisis every single day but no one talks about it. I wanted to change that, I wanted to make the topic a household conversation because only when we know the truth can we act on it, and we need action now because the climate crisis is happening to us now!
Why are you striking?
I’m striking because we’re living through the climate crisis. Heavy rains and lax measures taken by governments have led to millions of people being displaced because of floods, particularly in India. My house was flooded last week. Yet, there are multiple different impacts – my city is expected to run out of underground water by the end of the year. The climate crisis is our reality, we’re striking for our survival.
What action would you like to see on climate in 2020
Aiming to stay below 1.5 C is not enough. 1.5 C is still harmful for several countries, we need to work on a just transition and a just recovery from this. We have the resources to make this happen, what we need, above anything else is political will to make it happen!
Laura Verónica Muñoz – Bogotá, Colombia
I am Laura Verónica Muñoz. I am an audiovisual and multimedia communicator, and a climate activist with Fridays for Future Colombia and PactoxElClima. I have been involved in the process of adjusting the global climate youth movement to the Colombian context and more specifically in the city of Bogotá. I want people to see beyond their bubble of privilege and comfort, to be more empathetic and open their eyes to different realities within our own country. With that I hope more people will join the movement for climate action in Colombia. I am also convinced that more female representation is needed in the political, economic, scientific, business and academic spheres, to be able to build more sustainable and resilient solutions to climate change.
Why are you striking?
The climate crisis needs everyone’s action, but it also needs justice. Climate change is an environmental and social problem that, although it affects all people, does not affect them equally. Those who are feeling and will feel the impacts of the climate crisis most strongly are those who bear the least responsibility in the matter.
What action would you like to see on climate in 2020
I would like to see a just recovery that works to close the giant gaps that exist in terms of health, education, economy and gender. Without this, there is really no climate justice because many people would continue to be left behind.
Eyal Weintraub – Buenos Aires, Argentin
Biography
My name is Eyal Weintraub, I’m From Buenos Aires, 20 years old and one of the founders of Jóvenes por el Clima Argentina (Youth for climate Argentina). Currently, climate change does not affect me and my individual standard of living in any significant way that I am aware of, but there is a very specific reason for that. I am a white, middle class male from the capital of Argentina. I am extremely privileged. That is another of the most devastating aspects of climate change. It affects in much greater numbers those who are already socially vulnerable. Climate change hurts most those who have contributed to global warming the least. That is something extremely important to consider when we talk about climate justice. Climate justice is not only mitigating the amount of CO2 levels we produce to prevent future damage, but also to provide adaptive measures for those places where it is already being felt and reparation for those affected.
Why are you striking?
In a country like ours where you have 50% of the population living below the poverty line it is not enough to speak in abstract about the climate crisis. It is necessary to find ways to directly relate it with the hardships and struggles that we suffer daily. I strike so that the government and corporations take direct action regarding the mitigation and adaptation of the climate crisis before It becomes the worst crisis in the history of humankind.
What action would you like to see on climate in 2020
If there is one thing the Coronavirus pandemic has proven, it’s that governments have the ability to initiate drastic measures to avert catastrophes when necessary. The climate crisis is just as serious as this new global pandemic and yet we are not doing what is required to lower greenhouse emissions by 50% for 2030. Hopefully we will see countries not only promise to lower emission but also effectively act on their commitments and pass from empty speeches to concrete actions.
Greta Thunberg – Stockholm
Greta Thumberg, 17, is a Swedish climate activist who started a school strike in front of the Swedish parliament in August 2018. Since then, her solo protest has inspired school strikes for climate action all over the world. More than seven million people attended global climate strikes in September 2019. Greta plans to continue striking every Friday until Sweden is in line with the Paris climate agreement.
Greta has addressed decision-makers at UN climate summits in Poland and Madrid, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, and in several national parliaments. She lives in Stockholm with her family and recently returned to school after a gap year, in which she travelled to North America on a zero-emissions sailing boat, and addressed the UN Climate Action Summit in New York on 23rd September. In December 2019, Greta was named TIME Magazine’s Person of the Year.
