Tara Prakash, Sidwell Friends School
Inspired by environmental activist Greta Thunberg’s 2018 school strike for climate, Fridays For Future is an international organization focused on organizing and executing climate strikes. During these protests, youth students and activists from around the globe, gather to urge leaders in power to push for change.
Believing that non-violent and consistent protest is an effective way to initiate change, the Fridays For Future organization has three main goals: to keep the global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels, to follow the Paris Climate Accords, to ensure climate justice and equity and to listen to the best-united science currently available.
The organization believes strikes are important for kids and adults alike to fight for a better future: “We strike because we have no choice.” The organization strikes for “the future of coastal people, farmers, indigenous people, and others who are already suffering because of climate change.”
According to the organization’s website, Fridays for Future movement has mobilized 6,000 protest events in 185 countries, and 7.6 million individuals have attended strikes. People of all races, ages and social classes are united with one goal: to save the world from the disasters of climate change. Fridays For Future holds weekly strikes on Fridays in thousands of locations across the globe. In the District of Columbia, the strike locations are typically the Capitol and the White House, allowing people to march and protest close to where those in power sit.
At these protests, people carry signs like “One Planet, One Chance,” “There is No Planet B” and “Save our Planet.” Some are more humorous; for example, there are signs that read “The Dinosaurs Also Thought They Had Time”, “We Are Missing Our Lessons, so We Can Teach You One”, and “The Wrong Amazon is Burning”. The one thing these messages have in common? They were all written with the same burning drive to protect our planet and each other.
Fridays for Future hopes these strikes will reach members of Congress. Please come and participate in these protests on Friday afternoons! We need you, and we need your voice to change the world and the future. As Greta Thunberg said, “Our house is still on fire. Your inaction is fueling the flames by the hour.” Make change. Extinguish the flames. Save the world.
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