“What do we want? Climate Justice! When do we want it? Now!”
The cries reverberated in the autumn evening air outside the Town Hall in Bengaluru as hundreds of young students and working professionals from across the city skipped school and work to turn up and show show solidarity with the Global Climate Strikes taking place around the world starting Friday.
"We are here to fight for climate justice", declares Karen, a member of Fridays for Future, an organisation started by 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg. Behind her, a placard looms with the words - "There is no Planet B".
This is the third such global rally organised by school students and led by Greta, who is from Sweden. Protesters across the world including in major cities like New York, London, Bangkok and Sydney, took to the streets on Friday, demanding that their respective governments take steps to tackle the climate crisis urgently.
Greta began solo protests outside the Swedish parliament by skipping school every Friday before quickly rising to become the figurehead of the movement of youth climate activists. The strikes are happening just as the United Nations Climate Action Summit 2019 is set to take place in New York on September 23, where Greta has been invited.
Karen says that in India, the movement has spread to as many as 25 cities. "In India, the movement began in cities like Bengaluru, Mumbai and New Delhi and has spread to 25 cities and this week, there are protests in as many as 129 cities and towns in the country. Our collective demand is to urge the Indian government to adhere to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) budget and the Paris Agreement," she adds.
Many students were seen at the strikes organised on Friday, a considerable shift from earlier climate protests. "Our generation should be much more worried about the Climate Change that is happening. The people in power in the country are not doing enough to address the issues of Climate Change that is right in front of us. But the repercussions of their inaction will have to be endured by my generation and not them. So it is important that we step out on the streets and raise our voice against this,” says Joanna Hashmi, class 11 student of Legacy School in Bengaluru.
In Bengaluru, the climate strike was supported by a number of organisations including Jhatkaa, Citizens for Bengaluru and Amnesty India.
"Transport is a key area. 60% of Bengaluru's carbon dioxide emissions are from the transport sector alone and what we need to do is push the BMTC to introduce electric buses that were promised and replace the diesel-run buses currently in the city. We should also use rooftop spaces to install solar panels", says Avijit Michael, of Jhatkaa. He highlighted the city's traffic woes and said that residents of the city should call for the government to set up infrastructure to push more citizens to turn to solar power and electric vehicles.”
Similar climate strikes were conducted in cities and towns across the country including in New Delhi, Mumbai and Kochi. In New Delhi, protesters gathered near Lodhi Garden and also marched to the office of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, where they were halted by the police.
In Kochi, the climate strike was held at the Durbar Hall ground on Friday morning. Speaking to TNM about the importance of the event in Kerala, Abhirami says that the protest holds special significance to people of Kerala. “We have seen the effect of Climate Change through the recent flood. I hope that more people will support us and be part of the event,” she says.
The strikes will continue in other parts of the country until September 27 and after the relative success of Friday's event, there is hope that climate activists from across the country will join the global protest demanding urgent action against climate change.