On March 15th, 2019, thousands of schoolchildren across the UK as well as activists in at least 112 countries, skipped school in order to protest about one of the most controversial topics. Climate change.

Why? I hear you say, well because as young people we believe that we are not  “just lazy” and  seem to “have no idea about what the real world is like” but in fact we care about the impacts of what we do today will cause a significant change in the world from 30 to 40 years’ time. Yes, we all understand that we cannot predict what will happen in the future. However, we can start to help save the world now so that fewer problems will occur for future generations.

Why should I care anyway? You may ask, well there’s so much scientific evidence that shows Climate Change is REAL. It’s happening right NOW. As well as, it is affecting YOU! Scientific evidence shows that Oceans are warming up, Ice sheets are shrinking, Glaciers are retreating, Sea levels are rising at their highest levels in 2,000 years and many more problems are rising day by day.

So what? The biggest outcome would be that Climate change will lead to a major refugee crisis. Of course, the displacement of people is still happening today but due to climate change-related weather hazards, even more, people have been forced to move elsewhere. So, if we decide to STILL ignore what is happening right in front of our eyes, where do we go from here?

Well, we should take small steps, one by one in order to reach the bigger goal of creating a healthier and better world. Just as the schoolchildren did, we SHOULD protest and by doing this we are putting pressure on our governments and on companies to make the system-wide changes that are needed to be done.  The school children made their voices be heard and wanted their governments to cut down their greenhouse gas emissions. Now we need to make our voices be heard and stand up for our rights, after all, it is going to affect US and the future generation that comes after us!

“So, what are you going to do?”, Tereza Bara, a 14-year-old protestor.