School Strike 4 Climate NZ protest unites Northland students in Whangārei

Students from Whangārei’s Te Kāpehu Whetū attended the School Strike For Climate on Friday with principal Raewyn Tipene.

Northland school students joined thousands of their counterparts around the country in taking to the streets for the School Strike For Climate protest.

More than 100 students gathered at the Whangārei Civic Centre on Friday afternoon to demand more action to combat climate change.

Nationwide students, some as young as 10, protested the lack of action by the new National-led Government to tackle climate change.

Protest organisers accused the Government of having a “complete disregard for the planet and its people”.

Year 12 Whangārei Girls’ High School student Ciara Elliot, who helped organise the local rally, said the event was about making their call for immediate action on climate change heard by the Government.

“We want to let them know that we oppose their actions or lack of actions to combat climate change.

“Getting rid of the Make it 16 [lowering the voting age campaign] shows that they do not have the interests of young people at heart,” she said.

Ciara hoped the Government would get the message that students have had enough.

Ciara Elliot and Stella Moreton, Year 12 students at Whangārei Girls’ High School, helped organise the School Strike For Climate event on Friday, saying they wanted to send a message to Government that young people wanted urgent action on climate change.

Fellow organiser and Year 12 Whangārei Girls’ High School student Stella Moreton said students wanted to inherit a clean country, not ruined by climate change.

Stella responded to Act leader and Education Minister David Seymour’s criticism that students should be in school learning instead of protesting during school hours by saying the march was a valuable learning experience. She also did not have school on Friday.

Stella said taking part was educational regarding real world situations as they happened, something she could not always get in school.

Devon Lepper, a Year 10 student from Whangārei Boys’ High, and Bella Malcolm, a Year 9 student from WGHS, made their points at the School Strike For Climate event.

Te Kāpehu Whetū principal Raewyn Tipene, who had accompanied the kura’s students to the rally, said students had a real desire to see changes to the way the Government dealt with climate change.

Whangārei Boys’ High School Year 10 student Devon Lepper was there to support the movement’s kaupapa which was was to leave a better planet for today’s youth.

Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson praised youth for their efforts in exposing the lack of a plan to tackle climate change.

She said young people were the country’s future and were leading the way in the climate change fight.

Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson praised the youth at Friday’s Whangārei School Strike For Climate rally.

Davidson claimed this Government was one of the most destructive to the planet and environment that the country had ever seen. It was important for young people to show their opposition, she said.

Wellington students rallied outside Parliament to demand the Government take real and immediate action to reduce emissions and ensure the country has a sustainable, fair and healthy society now and into the future.

The School Strike 4 Climate Action movement began in Sweden in August 2018 when 15-year-old Greta Thunberg missed school to protest outside the Swedish Parliament holding a sign that read ‘Skolstrejk för klimatet (school strike for the climate)’.

Since then it has grown into a worldwide movement, where youth are at the forefront of demanding governments protect the future of the environment they will inherit.

Students at the Whangārei School Strike For Climate rally make their feelings clear.