October 23, 2019 | Written by - Sophia Casa '23
On March 15th, 2019, roughly 1.4 million students, in over 123 countries, opted out of class to protest for more government action on Climate Change. These strikes were heralded as possibly the biggest environmental protests ever. Six months later, on September 20th, another global protest took place. This one had over 163 countries, with over 4 million participants on all 7 continents. The September 20th Climate Strike is now known as the biggest climate protest ever. But what did the strikes contribute in terms of fighting global warming?
The main objective of the protestors was to demand more action on this issue from their governments and political leaders. Having business and governments commit to a goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2030, switching to renewable energy (rather than fossil fuels), stopping deforestation and burning of forests (such as the Amazon), protecting and cleaning the trash filled oceans, and developing more sustainable agriculture were frequent requests of participants for the future of the planet.
The country with the largest number in attendance was Germany, with 1.4 million protestors, followed by other European countries, such as Poland, The United Kingdom and the Netherlands. The United States had roughly 650,000 participants, with over 800 marches across the 50 states. Including one in New York led by Swedish Climate Change activist, Greta Thunberg. She had sailed to New York not only to participate in the strikes but also to attend the United Nations Climate Action Summit, held only 3 days after the protests on September 23rd.
The results of the Summit were mixed. On the one hand China and the US (#1 and #2 on USA Today’s list of countries with the most CO2 emissions) made no new promises or proposals of future action. However, on September 20th, German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced that Germany would dedicate 54 billion Euros (60 million USD) to combating Climate Change, mainly by cutting their greenhouse emissions by 55% by 2030 (based on Germany’s emission levels from 1990). At the summit, India also promised to increase its renewable energy by 2022. Finally, by the end of the summit, 65 countries promised to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
The UN Climate Action Summit also gave us Greta Thunberg’s impassioned speech on why we need action now on Climate Change and how world leaders have not been doing enough. She closed her speech by uttering these words, “The world is waking up. And change is coming, whether you like it or not.” The world certainly is waking up. As for the shifts world leaders must make? Only time will tell if the drastic changes our planet needs will be made.
Sources
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Jordans, Frank. “German Government Agrees $60 Billion Climate Policy Package.” AP NEWS, Associated Press, 20 Sept. 2019, www.apnews.com/91a482a39d7949bb87ad66944984bbda.
Neuman, Scott, and Bill Chappell. “Young People Lead Millions To Protest Global Inaction On Climate Change.” NPR, NPR, 20 Sept. 2019, www.npr.org/2019/09/20/762629200/mass-protests-in-australia-kick-off-global-climate-strike-ahead-of-u-n-summit.
Barclay, Eliza, and Brian Resnick. “How Big Was the Global Climate Strike? 4 Million People, Activists Estimate.” Vox, Vox, 22 Sept. 2019, www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2019/9/20/20876143/climate-strike-2019-september-20-crowd-estimate.
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Sengupta, Somini, and Lisa Friedman. “At U.N. Climate Summit, Few Commitments and U.S. Silence.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 23 Sept. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/09/23/climate/climate-summit-global-warming.html.
Staff, NPR. “Transcript: Greta Thunberg's Speech At The U.N. Climate Action Summit.” NPR, NPR, 23 Sept. 2019, www.npr.org/2019/09/23/763452863/transcript-greta-thunbergs-speech-at-the-u-n-climate-action-summit.
Barclay, Eliza, and Kainaz Amaria. “Photos: Kids in 123 Countries Went on Strike to Protect the Climate.” Vox, Vox, 17 Mar. 2019, www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2019/3/15/18267156/youth-climate-strike-march-15-photos.
Frohlich, Thomas C., and Liz Blossom. “These Countries Produce the Most CO2 Emissions.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 14 July 2019, www.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/07/14/china-us-countries-that-produce-the-most-co
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