High school students add their voices to the call for action on climate change.
High school students from Taupō will tomorrow add their voices to the call for action on climate change when they join the global School Strike 4 Climate.
Interested students from Tauhara College and Taupō-nui-a-Tia College are expected to gather on the Colonel Roberts Reserve on the Taupō lakefront at 2pm.
They will join thousands of other New Zealand school students from more than 20 towns around the country who also plan to go "on strike" tomorrow to support a worldwide day of action over global warming.
The global strike is expected to bring students on to the streets across Europe, the United States, Australia and other countries.
In Taupō the strike is being organised by Arabella Marshall, 16, of Tauhara College along with Taupō-nui-a-Tia College students Raureti Ormond, Caitlin Head, Siaosi Tiueti and Manaia Judd.
"We are marching because we care about our environment," says Caitlin. "We want to make a change now because we deserve better for our future."
From left: College students Arabella Marshall, Caitlin Head and Raureti Ormond are helping organise tomorrow's Taupō School Strike 4 Climate.
They are planning for the student strike to be at the reserve for around an hour and have been busy organising speakers, banners and flyers. There will be a photo wall where students can take pictures and post them to their social media accounts, a cardboard sculpture and mural emphasising that time for change is running out, banners to sign and flyers with information on how to make a change in your own life.
Tauhara College students who are walking to the reserve will assemble at about 12.30pm and make their way there on foot or by bike, while Taupō-nui-a-Tia College students will begin to head down about an hour later. The strike itself is expected to take an hour or less, with students who need to catch buses having to leave in time to make their transport.
The strike is open to all students, not just high school students, although younger students will need a parent or adult supervisor with them.
The students say they are joining the global strike to make their voices heard since they are the generation that will inherit climate change and its devastating effects, although they hope it's not too late to halt global warming.
