25 September 2020
Protesters around the country marked a global day of climate action today while adhering to public health guidelines.
The Fridays for Future-led strike saw coordinated actions take place the worldover and online, falling almost a year to the day the largest global climate strike took place prior to the UN’s Climate Action Summit.
In Cork, participants gathered placards from people across the county and spread them out at the Peace Park to show “that the climate movement has not gone away even in light of the pandemic”, according to organisers.
“The climate crisis and the coronavirus pandemic are inextricably connected, both reflect the system that we live in, and our relationship with the world around us,” student climate activist Saoi O’Connor said.
“We cannot afford to allow the climate crisis to take a backseat. This is not about political possibility, this is about scientific necessity,” they added.
Protesters in Dublin collected messages from school strikers throughout the day and then wrote them in chalk before the Dáil.
Messages came in from all over the country and implored the government to act and to enshrine climate justice in their response.
Members of Fridays for Future Limerick protested from a distance and with masks on outside Mungret Community College and Arthur’s Quay park.
A socially distanced demonstration was also organised in Mayo.
Irish protests were just one piece in a larger global jigsaw of action, as strikes took place in over 3000 locations.
“In Sweden gatherings over 50 people are not allowed due to Covid-19, so we adapt,” student climate activist Greta Thunberg tweeted.
Fridays for Future’s policy demands
On a national level, the Irish branch of the organisation is calling for the government to keep global temperatures at or below 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels of warming and to ensure climate justice and equity for all.
Additionally, the movement is calling for leaders to listen to the best currently available science and act accordingly.
Fridays for Future has been at the forefront of the climate movement for well over a year, with its first major global action taking place in March 2019.
Six months later another global march was held, and Fridays for Future Ireland organised a strike on the eve of the general election.
“We have until 2030 when we reach this point of no return and the government that comes in now could be in power for five out of those 10 years,” Fridays for Future Ireland organiser Beth Doherty told The Green News in February.
“We need our futures to be taken into account, because if it’s not done now, by the time we’re able to have a say or make the decisions, it might be too late,” she added.
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