Thousands of Dutch Kids, Youths Protest For Climate
Over 10,000 schoolchildren protested in The Hague on Thursday to demand more action from politicians to combat climate change.
The demonstrators were mostly children and youths from primary and high schools, who held banners and signs with texts like “What I stand for is what I stand on”, “Mother nature cannot defend herself”, “Help the climate before the world fades” and “Thinking in solutions, not in pollution”.
Organised by the Youth for Climate organisation, the Dutch children followed the path of demonstrations started last month in Belgium. Approximately 350 Dutch scientists supported the protest on Thursday morning through a letter in the newspaper Trouw. “On the basis of the facts provided by climate science, the activists are quite right,” they stated in the letter.
The academics pointed to the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change, in October last year. According to this report temperatures on the Earth are likely to rise by 1.5 degrees Celsius between 2030 and 2052 if global warming continues at its current pace.
The Dutch scientists said in their letter that it is time for effective measures and behavioral change so that the problems can be solved in time. “Otherwise, the young people who are protesting this week for their own future will be the victims,” they stated.
One of the child speakers at the demonstration in The Hague called for a new protest next week: “Hope to see you all next Thursday”.