ACTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE

“IF TREES die, I will die too,” said Mavi, a Turkish girl. The five-year-old made the remarks to reporters in Istanbul on the shoulders of her father. Mavi was joining about 100 Turkish pupils who missed school on Friday to gather together in a park along the Bosphorus Strait to appeal for action on climate change.

The pupils, mostly aged between seven and 12, were inspired by Greta Thunberg, a Swedish teenager who started missing school every Friday in September last year to strike for climate in front of the Swedish parliament.

The Greta-style strike has spread to around 100 countries and gone viral on Twitter with the hashtag #Fridayforfuture.

In Istanbul’s Bebek Park, the pupils called for the authorities to “fix the climate”, carrying banners that read: “Make world great again” and: “Greta, we are behind you.”

“We are less than 12 years away from not being able to undo our mistakes,” a young speaker told the crowd.

“We have to stop the emission of greenhouse gases,” another one added.

In October last year, a UN report warned of a possible rise in temperatures by 1.5°C between 2030 and 2052 if the world fails to curb global warming. Parents, teachers and members of environmental groups were also present at the park to show solidarity with the young protesters. |