In the year since Greta Thunberg started striking outside the Swedish Parliament in August 2018, the School Strike for Climate (also known as Youth Strike 4 Climate and Fridays for Future) has grown into a global phenomenon. In March and May 2019, for example, strikes took place in at least 2000 cities in 160 countries, and involved an estimated 1.4 million young people.
The next strike, on Friday 20th September, will be the largest yet, because young people are calling on adults to join them. As such it is being billed as a general strike rather than a youth strike, and has received broad support from a coalition of environmental groups, social movements, and unions. The strike is also being supported by over 1000 websites and private sector corporations globally, many of which will be limiting their activities on the day in solidarity with the world’s youth, including local businesses such as Lingo Design.
The King’s Lynn event is expected to add to the pressure on the Borough Council of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk to declare a climate emergency, which it has so far refused to do despite having the highest emissions in Norfolk and the fact that much of the Borough (including King’s Lynn itself) is at sea level and therefore particularly threatened by sea level rise and storm surges. Over half the local authorities in the UK have already declared a climate emergency.
Extinction Rebellion UK is not involved in organising the Global Strike for Climate, but members of the King’s Lynn and West Norfolk local group will be attending in solidarity with the young people of West Norfolk. After all, it is their future which we are destroying with our inaction.
