Young people have the most to lose if we don’t take effective action to mitigate climate change. Trustees from the Climate Change Tai Tokerau Northland Trust (CCTNT) met with students from Whangarei Boys High and Pompallier College at Boys High today. The School Strike 4 Climate NZ movement was inspired by the strike that Greta Thunberg started in Sweden in 2018. (Here is the SS4C New Zealand Facebook page).
As a baby boomer, I was inspired to be with a group of engaged young people who want to make a difference and want to see action on climate change. They know what the consequences are of inaction and they want their voice heard.
The next round of strikes will be on 24 May. Students from these schools won’t be striking, but they will be engaged in in-school activities. Common ground for our trust and for the school students is the knowledge that an important task for both of us is engaging and building our networks. Today was an important first step for this collaboration. The students are also looking at ways that climate change can be integrated more into the curriculum.
A calendar of events is shaping up already. At 10.00 a.m. on 16 July the trust is hosting “Intergenerational conversations” at Manaia PHO. And on 29 July There will be an event at NorthTec exploring the dynamics of change. (More information to follow). Two trustees, Carol Peters and Catherine Murupaenga-Ikenn are offering to do brief presentations on having input into the Zero Carbon Bill at assemblies.
Many of these students indicated that they will be old enough to vote in the 2020 general election, so any political party that doesn’t campaign on climate action will probably suffer at the polls.
Please pass this post on to young people who want to have a say in their future. As Greta Thunberg said when she stared down the camera the the IPCC COP 24 in Poland.
You say you love your children above all else, and yet you are stealing their future in front of their very eyes.
Climate Action Tai Tokerau 
These young bold early adopters possibly have yet to fully appreciate it, but this first meeting was the start of something big, and meaningful, for Whangarei – and beyond. I predict that years from now, they will look back with pride and remember how, along with their School Strike 4 Climate peers, they were there when ‘the movement’ began. I already feel proud to be associated with them, and I look forward to supporting them in the coming months. Mauri ora! 🙂
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