Fridays for Future

"Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, if one remembers to turn on the light" - Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

When you start delving into the realities of the climate crisis it is a bit of a rabbit hole. I finally found a name for the frustration and anguish I have been feeling since I returned from my Climate Pilgrimage - climate anxiety (thanks to Lorna Gold's book - Climate Generation for naming it). So when you are suffering from climate anxiety you may experience the following symptoms:

• You see smog everywhere - literally everywhere.
• You walk around wondering where all the trees have gone and are confused as to how you never noticed this before!
• When you are stuck on the M50 with cars backed up in either direction you feel like getting out of your car and screaming "Stop the madness!"
• Shopping in supermarkets has become a nightmare and you stare at plastic covered fruit and veg as if it were the plague.
• When a bumble bee appears (in January!) you find yourself actually apologising to it. 
• You think about how quickly nature would recover if we were not here.
• You want to shake people who think an 18 degree celcius day in February in Ireland is 'lovely'. Especially when it is followed closely by a 2 degree celcius day and snow and the general public don't think this is odd.
• You stand in the middle of a Dublin city centre street with banners that hearld the climate apocolypse.... and this turns out to be the best part of your week. 
• You wonder if your friends are secretly discussing whether or not you have gone nuts.
• You think of your Climate Pilgrimage buddies and remember that there is not really time for despair.  

As I have discovered, small actions give hope. Small actions have become the medicine for climate anxiety. Every Friday for the past 15 weeks, I've joined activists and students outside Dail Eireann (the Irish Parliament) from 1-2pm for the weekly climate strike, known globally as Fridays for Future. These strikes are inspired by the amazing legend that is Greta Thunberg, a 16 year old climate activist from Sweden. Greta has been leading a climate strike from school since August 2018. She has delivered a powerful Ted Talk and delivered kick ass speaches to the UN Climate Conference (COP24) and the World Economic Forum in Davos. What is so inspiring about Greta is her unique ability to tell it like it is. There is no bullshit, no trying to please the adults, no sucking up to politicians. Greta cuts right to the chase. At COP24 she blew me away with the line: "I am not here to ask you to change, because for 24 years you have done nothing. I am here to tell you that change is coming whether you like it or not". You can see her full speech here. It's three minutes that everyone should watch.

In Davos at the WEF Greta said to world economists: "I don't want your hope. I want you to panic. Because our house is on fire." Greta has been joined worldwde by thousands of young people. In Belgium a few weeks ago 70,000 students marched at the weekly Fridays for Future event. The Belgian climate minister was forced to resign as he criticised these young people and accused them of being part of a left wing conspiracy.

Our own strike on Fridays on Kildare St started with 8 people, led by Lorna Gold and Jim Scheer, and has swelled to 120. But the big one is this Friday, March 15th. Thousands of young people all over Ireland will join with the International Climate Strike - a world wide day of action for Climate Justice. It is the most hope-filled movement that I have ever experienced.

Each week students teach us a new chant and new people join us with their colourful banners and epic slogans. Climate Strikes have sprung up in Maynooth, Cork, Kilkenny, Tralee and Galway over the past few months. Saoi has been striking outside Cork City Hall for the past 9 weeks with a sign that has become famous: "The emperor has no clothes", a great line from the Hans Christian Anderson story, now used to criticise the majority who don't speak up for fear of looking stupid. Only the young boy in the story would shout the truth. We probably all learned the song in primary school: "The King is in the altogether...."

Saoi O'Connor outside Cork City Hall

There are marches planned in cities all over the world on March 15th and if that does not open the ears of politicians worldwide take comfort in the fact that the majority of the young people marching next Friday will be of voting age in 2/3 years time. There is no political will to solve the climate crisis because it is not an issue for the general public or if it is an issue for people, they are not expressing that concern to politicians loudly enough. There is clearly an awakening. But with that awakening comes a feeling of helplessness. How can ordinary people have an impact when the issue involves huge fossil fuel corporations and government policy? For this week at least, here's what you can do:

• Everything you need to know about March 15th can be found here: Stop Climate Chaos
• Support the Climate Strike on March 15th by attending your nearest event. 
• If you can't attend you can support it by sharing information on social media.
• If there is no event in your locality, start your own, wherever you are. Take some pictures and share it under the hashtag #fridaysforfuture You can also add your event to the Ireland strike map
  

  

  Dublin Friday for Future Strike

• Help to make banners/posters for your local schools who are involved. For example, this Wednesday evening (March 13th) in the Patagonia store in Dublin there is a banner making workshop.
• Irish students last week made their demands to the Irish government in Dail Eireann. This included a demand for the government to come clean to the public about the seriousness of this climate crisis and to "pull the emergency break". You can write to your TD expressing your serious concern on Ireland's shocking climate record and include these demands which can be found here: School Strike Demands to Government

For those who might criticse these students who are participating in Fridays For Future and not in school consider the following:

• Saoi O'Connor (16), who leads the Cork city strike, tweets to..."the people who’ve accused me of mitching off school, City hall is a two hour bus ride from my house, I get up three hours earlier than I usually would for school to get into the city for 9am. I sit outside City Hall for 7hrs, sometimes with others, sometimes alone!"
• Some of those who attend the Dublin strike weekly have long bus journeys, put huge effort into their banners and chants and could be amusing themselves in other ways if they really wanted to mitch off school.
• Before anyone criticises these amazing young people they might ask themselves when was the last time they themselves took an action against an injustice in our society. This movement is a beautiful sign of a generation of young people engaging in political action. 
• Greta questions the purpose of going to school when older generations refuse to listen to the world's scientific community.

I know where I'll be on March 15th. "Listen Leo Listen, Climate Action Now". Other hits are below. Finally a video that everyone needs to see this weekend, called Seven can be viewed here: SEVEN

What do we want? Climate justice.

When do we want it? Now

 

We're gonna go to our TDs        

We're gonna go to our TDs

We're gonna go to Dail Eireann

We're gonna go to Dail Eireann

1...2...3...4

1...2...3...4

Climate's what we're fighting for

Climate's what we're fighting for

I said Hey, I said Ho,

Fossil Fuels have got to go....

 

 No more coal and no more oil

No more coal and no more oil

Keep the carbon in the soil

Keep the carbon in the soil

"We are unstoppable another world is possible..."

“Yet all is not lost. Human beings, while capable of the worst, are also capable of rising above themselves, choosing again what is good, and making a new start, despite their mental and social conditioning. We are able to take an honest look at ourselves, to acknowledge our deep dissatisfaction, and to embark on new paths to authentic freedom. No system can completely suppress our openness to what is good, true and beautiful, or our God-given ability to respond to his grace at work deep in our hearts. I appeal to everyone throughout the world not to forget this dignity which is ours. No one has the right to take it from us. (Laudato Si, Care for Our Common Home, 205)”