Given the fact that the current generation of politicians and industry executives are only slowly pivoting toward accepting the incredibly serious risks posed by climate change, they are in the process of preparing a frankly astronomically large shit-sandwich to be handed down to the next generation, a shit-sandwich from which they’ve even taken the bread for themselves. With increasingly dire warnings for the earth’s future being issued by university research groups and task forces within the UN, should current trends of greenhouse gas emissions not be seriously curbed, we are approaching the liminal moment where the damage we are inflicting on the planet may become irreversible.
Given the reluctance of many of those in power to take steps necessary to counteract the damages being wrought on the planet, there has been a rapid growth in political engagement among school students throughout the world. There had been a global strike planned today for school students to protest the lack of action in tackling this pressing issue. Hundreds of thousands of students took to the streets throughout the world. However, the sheer presence of Irish students on the streets of towns and cities throughout the country was particularly striking.
In Dublin some 10,000 students gathered in the city centre to march and voice their discontent with the laissez-faire approach of those in power, and there were thousands of others who marched elsewhere.
Wow… what else can you say.
I recorded this after 10 minutes straight filming of crowd passing & they are still going!!!@FFFireland @saoi4climate @GretaThunberg @think_or_swim @foeireland @whittledaway @CAugustenborg
#ClimateStrike #FridaysForFuture #SchoolStrike4Climate pic.twitter.com/cuGDuA9nBL
— Niall Sargent (@Niall_Sargent) March 15, 2019
Waves of students heading past St Stephen’s Green in Dublin for #schoolstrike4climate #FridaysForFuture climate protest pic.twitter.com/zNA73su1UW
— Philip Bromwell (@philipbromwell) March 15, 2019
Still gathering at St Stephen’s Green
for #SchoolStrike4Climate #ClimateStrike #FridaysForFurture #ClimateActionNow pic.twitter.com/Y7Xlxi2Sjw— Stop Climate Chaos (@SCC_Ireland) March 15, 2019
This is Dublin’s Molesworth St this lunchtime. #FridaysForFuture #schoolstrike4climate pic.twitter.com/OqwQ9MuOjo
— emma o kelly (@emma_okelly) March 15, 2019
Fantastic turnout at Dublin city centre’s demonstration about Climate change @rtenews #ClimateActionNow #schoolstrike4climate #ClimateStrike pic.twitter.com/p5rxeBKuUT
— cristina buil (@CBuil) March 15, 2019
This is the largest demonstration I have ever seen in Cork. I cannot even begin to try and estimate the numbers!@GretaThunberg @saoi4climate, what have you unleashed?
CHANGE! ✊ NOW! ✊#climatestrike #FridaysForFuture #schoolstrike4climate pic.twitter.com/ZAsHZEkXpv
— Oliver Moran (@oliver_moran) March 15, 2019
Turnouts this strong are particularly heartening as they cannot help but be ignored. And, at the very least from a cynical perspective, the sign that a generation of people – who will soon be eligible to vote- showing that one of their foremost concerns is climate policy will almost certainly galvanise politicians toward considering more drastic action, if for no other reason than for fear of political obsolescence.
Congratulations to all those who took part today.
