Students to join climate action ‘strike’

Thousands of New Zealand school students plan to go “on strike” on March 15 to support a worldwide day of action over global warming.

The global strike is expected to bring tens of thousands of students on to the streets across Europe, the United States, Australia and other countries.

In New Zealand, national coordinator Sophie Handford said protests were being organised in more than 20 towns from Russell in the Bay of Islands to Invercargill.

She said more than 1000 people had said they were “interested” on Facebook sites for protests in each of the four main centres in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin.

“We are thinking like definitely in the thousands across the country,” she said.

Handford, 18, is a Youth MP representing Mana MP Kris Faafoi at a Youth Parliament meeting in Wellington this week, and many of the other youth MPs have signed up to help.

In Wellington, students will assemble at Civic Square at 10am on March 15 and march to Parliament, where youth representatives will speak and then put questions to a cross-party panel of MPs.

The group’s “demands” include an immediate ban on fossil fuel exploration and extraction, regulating emissions from agriculture and supporting the Government’s Zero Carbon Act.

In Auckland, the group plans a rally at Aotea Square at midday.

NZ Secondary Principals Council chairman James Morris said principals would not condone the strike.