The generation that cares about the climate
When 16-year old Greta Thunberg decided to take her concerns about the degrading climate outside the Swedish parliament back in August of last year, no one could have predicted how great of an impact it would end up having on the young generation. Her actions got noticed, and soon, it took the form of a movement. A year later, and we find ourselves amidst the biggest climate protest this world has ever seen — the global climate strike.
Organised by Greta and many other like-minded climate activists, the most recent global climate strike was observed in more than a hundred countries. Millions of people all over the world left their day-to-day priorities and headed out on the streets to take part in the movement, which began on September 20 and is scheduled to come to a close on the 27th; Bangladesh was no different to this.
In solidarity with the climate strike, thousands of children from different schools and colleges, and other youth-led organisations took part in a demonstration on the roads of Manik Mia Avenue. The event, jointly organised by Save the Children in Bangladesh and Green Savers Association, saw the participation of about 3000 people.
The participants at the demonstration formed a human-chain to show their support for the worldwide movement. They also brought out a procession with placards and banners with the slogan “Our world, our future. Plant trees and save the world.” Following all this, there was a discussion on the growing issue of climate change and its impact here in Bangladesh.
The global climate strike was organised ahead of the UN Climate Action Summit held on September 23. This was done to ensure that leaders of the world took notice of the threats posed by climate change and then, work out concrete plans at the summit to tackle the problems. Activists have also urged the leaders to take decisive steps to reduce extraction and consumption of fossil fuels, and to look towards renewable energy as an alternative.
Climate change is one of the biggest issues our era has ever faced, and if left as it is, it will go on to create a chain of catastrophic situations and disasters, which will probably wipe out the existence of the human race. Being ignorant to all this will only cause problems for our future generation. Thankfully, these young kids are cautious about the consequences they might have to face and are playing their part to prevent them. Our responsibility is to stand by them, and do our part to make sure that a world still exists for the leaders of tomorrow.
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