Today we’re shutting down the Agitator Global HQ and heading out to participate in today’s international climate strike.

You’ll recall when Greta Thunberg, a Swedish school student, sat in front of the Swedish parliament building with her hand-painted “Skolstrejk för klimatet” sign, she kick-started a worldwide movement.

It wasn’t the first time school kids had walked out of school to demand change, but Thunberg’s one-person strike on the steps of parliament drew global attention. On Fridays leading up to the 2018 Swedish election, she’d miss class to protest, sign in hand.

Thunberg has become the face of the new movement, inspiring students across the world to leave school and demand action on climate change. In March, students took to the streets in over 2,000 cities asking adults to take responsibility for the climate crisis. Smaller strikes occurred in May, June and August.

The next series of strikes begin today and promise to be the biggest yet. They’ll see students and adults walk out of their schools and workplaces to “demand an end to the age of fossil fuels.”

The upcoming strikes take place on two successive Fridays designed to coincide with an emergency climate action summit being held at the United Nations in New York beginning on Sept. 23.

Today thousands of climate strikes will take place in cities across the world. Thunberg herself will be attending the climate strike in New York City, but no matter where you are across the world, a climate strike is likely within your vicinity.

You can sign up here to get information on activities near you…resource guides on organizing your own strike and much, much more.

Some Good Reason to Strike

The reasons to take action are manifold.  But if you’d like a refresher here’s a salient list drawn up by Bill McKibben, founder of the climate change campaign 350.org and taken from his piece in the current issue of Nation magazine.  Better yet, send 350.org or the environmentalist group of your choosing a donation.

Strike, because the people who did the least to cause this crisis suffer first and worst — the people losing their farms to deserts and watching their islands sink beneath the waves aren’t the ones who burned the coal and gas and oil;

Strike, because coral reefs are so gloriously beautiful and complex — and so vulnerable;

Strike, because sun and wind are now the cheapest way to generate power around the world — if we could match the political power of the fossil fuel industry, we could make fast progress;

Strike, because we’ve already lost more than half the animals on the planet since 1970 — the Earth is a lonelier place;

Strike, because our governments move with such painful slowness, treating climate change as, at worst, one problem on a long list;

Strike, because this could be a great opportunity — and maybe the last opportunity — to transform our society towards justice and towards joy. Green New Deals have been proposed around the world; they are a way forward;

Strike, because forests now seem like fires waiting to happen;

Strike, because young people have asked us to. In a well-ordered society, when kids make a reasonable request their elders should say yes — in this case with real pride and hope that the next generations are standing up for what matters;

Strike, because every generation faces some great crisis, and this is ours;

Strike, because half the children in Delhi have irreversible lung damage simply from breathing the air;

Strike, because Exxon and the rest knew all about global warming in the 1980s, and then lied so they could keep cashing in;

Strike, because what we do this decade will matter for hundreds of thousands of years;

Strike, because the temperature has hit as high as 129 F/54 C — in big cities in recent summers. The human body can survive that, but only for a few hours;

Strike, because do we want to be the first generation to leave the planet in worse shape?

Strike, because batteries are ever cheaper — we can now store sunshine at night, and wind for a calm day;

Strike, because the UN estimates unchecked climate change could create a billion refugees by 2050.

STRIKE!

Roger and Nick