Climate activists take part in global march through Dublin city

Fridays for Future activists and members of the Student Climate Action Network (SCAN) attended a global climate march which began at the Garden of Remembrance in Dublin city centre before heading to Leinster House on Friday.

Fridays for Future, also known as the School Strikers, is a youth-led movement that advocates for a fossil-free future, a liveable city and a just society. It was started in 2018 by global youth climate activists and Greta Thunberg.

Students from North Wicklow Educate Together Secondary School (NWETSS) were in attendance for the protest alongside other groups from numerous schools.

NWETSS run a climate action class every week for their students which was established by a team of educators with an expertise in education for sustainability, including NWETSS teacher Kate Minnock.

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The courses aim is to guide and inform views of young people and support their demand for empowering education and a sustainable future.

Cara Harte, a 14-year-old student from NWETSS, said that she was there to protest how the Government think about business and farming, namely reducing the national herd.

“We want people to do more organic farming, which is not using synthetic fertilisers because they are very bad for the environment and they can also run into streams and stuff and pollute the air,” Ms Harte said at the protest.

“We also want people to be aware of animals in hedgerows and the biodiversity and ecosystems, and not to cut your hedgerows on your farms because they are very important for the environment.

“People were saying years ago to reduce the size of the national herd, but the Government didn’t listen and now we are here protesting it,” the second year student added.

Ms Harte tries to get public transport when she can, but being from a rural area, that can be quite difficult, she said. The young woman also always tries to recycle, two things that she feels everybody should do.

“It is nice to see everyone here, like, are all fighting for the same thing, it feels like a community, you know,” Ms Harte added.

“It would be good if they could get climate action into everyone’s schools because we have a climate action class in our school and that would be very beneficial to just let people know what is happening and what little things they can do to try and prevent it.”

She expressed disappointment in the Government for not doing more to try and prevent climate change, and said this feeling is shared among her classmates in school.

“It is scary, because every week there is a new news report about polar ice caps melting and stuff, it is scary, we just have to try our hardest to do our bit,” Ms Harte added.

Victoria Ivory, one of the Fridays for Future activists said that it is “crucial” to stand with climate activists.

“It is crucial that we stand with activists on the front line of this crisis and demand an end to the financing of fossil fuel projects, many of which are funded by the Global North and cause destruction in the Global South,” she said.

“This has never been so important, as according to Politico, fossil fuel subsidies doubled in 2022 to hit an all-time high of more than $1 trillion.”

Climate justice activist Magdalena Sedlmayr said that governments and corporations need to end fossil finance and “raise their moral standards and stop selling out safety and the livelihoods of others.

“Over the last years Ireland has risen to rank below the member states with the highest per capita Emission in the EU, and the emissions on our ‘Green Island’ are continuing to rise. All of this is happening while we know that we need to stop burning fossil fuels,” she said.

Fridays for Future strike every Friday at 1pm outside Leinster House.