March 15, 2019

These Photos of Kids Protesting Climate Change All Over the World Will Give You Hope for the Future

Truly incredible.

Young people all over the world skipped school Friday and followed the example of 16-year-old Greta Thunberg, a Swedish teenager who has been striking most Fridays since 2018 to demand political leaders’ attention to climate change.

As my colleague Rebecca Leber explains:

These young people compose the first generation that bears little responsibility for the 410 parts per million concentration of carbon in the atmosphere, but will face most of the consequences from it. They’re coming of age when the window to ward off this nightmare scenario is rapidly shrinking. Many older adults have been warning for decades that “future generations” will suffer for our selfishness and inertia from continued inaction. Now, those so-called future victims are finding their voice to try and shape the agenda.

“I’ve grown up with climate change,” one almost-13-year-old told Rebecca. “I’ve grown up listening and hearing about climate change. I’m fighting for my future.”

With estimates of up to a million participants in 1,659 strikes planned in Europe, North and South America, Asia and Africa, the protest Friday could be the largest global day of climate action ever.

Here are some of the day’s best—and most inspiring—images:

San Francisco, California

Washington, DC

New York City, New York

St. Paul, Minnesota 

Boston, Massachusetts 

Raleigh, North Carolina

Montreal, Canada

Lisbon, Portugal

Brussels, Belgium

Stockholm, Sweden

London, England

Vienna, Austria 

Madrid, Spain

Torino, Italy

Hong Kong, China 

And even, Antarctica

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