Greta Thunberg, has created a global movement called Fridays For Future, where students across the world skip class in order to demand for climate action from their governments. Greta insinuated urgency to an issue that we all knew existed, she opened our eyes. She isn’t afraid to speak the statistics, or to explicitly paint the picture of what our futures will look like if we do not stand up now. She is an inspiration and a world leader – a global climate activist.
Last April a bunch of my peers and myself wanted to do something about this global crisis and we were inspired by Greta’s efforts. We were in the process of planning a protest at the Independence square that would include students from school across Colombo, Sri Lanka. Unfortunately, due to the Easter Sunday attacks we were unable to host the event we had spent weeks planning. The nation was unstable more than ever, and our security was at risk. It broke us. However, once school reopened in August we wanted to continue our efforts and execute the plans we had made. We were advised by adults at school to hold off the event until the political and social instability settled. At this time it wasn’t practical for us to go to the extremes of protesting against the government.
The #school4climatestrike caught my attention on social media, it was a week of protests for students across the globe to participate in. Greta Thunberg was the one who introduced the movement and did so strategically so that it would occur around the same time as the UN annual meetings. During one of our biology classes the topic was brought up and a group of us expressed our interest and want to participate. After which it was clear who wanted to be actively involved with the process. That same week ReefKeepers leaders, Alex and Talia, approached us expressing their interest as well. We mentioned the plans we had in mind and we decided to get all the service leaders at OSC involved. After about a week of planning we came to the consensus that a good starting point would be a peaceful protest and a pledge to make OSC a more sustainable school.
Luca, Rashmi, Josh and I spent hours the days prior the protest, as we were diligently working on the pledge details. It was a challenge as we had to consider every little logistic to each clause. However, Rashmi and I had experience with creating pledges, as we had to create one for our anti animal tourism campaign. After working tirelessly in Mr. Le Blancs classroom one Wednesday afternoon, we completed the pledge (refer to the bottom of this post to view it). It was dark out, but we were all filled with joy and excitement for what was to come. None of the work we had due, none of the tests we had the next day even mattered. This was more important. It was a fairly enjoyable process, as we were all equally passionate and consumed by the gravity of this global issue. While we were working on the pledge, many students including those from ReefKeepers were hand making posters for people to use during the protest Friday morning. So many students were getting involved and I was overjoyed by the energy everyone brought to the project.
Friday September 27th 2019, at 7 am those of us who initiated the project along with some others were standing on the school steps protesting for our futures. We held our posters proudly and screamed slogans to catch the attention of students and parents who arrived. This is our future. At the time school was normally scheduled to commence we all walked out protesting around school. With each corner taken more and more students joined us, even the primary students started chanting, “Our Future Our Fight” along with us. We managed to walk around the entire secondary school and caught the attention of all the administration.
At 12pm that day we all met in the auditorium for the second half of the peaceful protest. Luca, Rashmi, Josh and I were able to introduce the pledge and its clauses to the whole secondary School. Emily introduced the Greta Thunberg video named ‘How Dare You’ which was streamed for everyone to see. Josh Jackson along with all the ReefKeepers conducted an activity where the students could write a letter to the government requesting for changes in relation waste mismanagement, or any topic related to global warming. All 250 students worked diligently on the activities and maintained their attention for the entirety of the protest.
The protest was a success to say the least. As for the next step, we will be printing the names of all the students who decide to sign the pledge along with signatures from the administration, in order to provide the list to the board. The school board can then take note that students understand the urgency of the situation and demand them for their support. OSC has so many opportunities to be a greener more sustainable school, so what are we waiting for? This protest was the start to something big, but we had to start taking initiative somewhere.
This our future, the future of upcoming generations and the future of entire ecosystems. Now is our time to take action, as silence will only kill us.
The Pledge: