Student climate strike fills streets of Vancouver with young environmental protesters

by Charlie Smith on March 15th, 2019 at 4:15 PM

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A large crowd gathered in downtown Vancouver today for another climate strike by school students.

One estimate pegged the crowd at 2,000—and they were all demanding that adults start taking the climate crisis seriously.

On March 13, the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii recorded atmospheric carbon-dioxide concentrations of 412.04 parts per million—up nearly four parts from the same day in 2018.

Millions of students took similar action in other cities around the world.

They've been inspired by teenage Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg, who's gained global attention for skipping a day from school each week to press her government to take stronger action.

“Our children are telling us that it is time to treat this crisis as a crisis, and they are right,” B.C. Green Leader Andrew Weaver said today. “I am humbled and honoured to stand with the world’s children and youth as they demand political action on climate change.

“All of the science is pointing to the fact that we are fast running out of time to avoid global catastrophe, and yet around the world political leaders are failing to consider the existential threat that we face. To quote Greta Thunberg, we need to focus on what needs to be done rather than what is politically possible.”

One of the messages painted in chalk in Vancouver summed it up this way:

"Why R We Studying for a Future We Might Not Have".