Anna Gil-Munoz – Year 9

Raquel Lee – Year 9

School strike for climate action 

Last Friday we had the opportunity to leave school and attend a student rally at Town Hall to stop government inaction on climate change. We met with thousands of other socially-minded students from other schools all over Sydney to protest. Over 1 million students skipped school across the world to send a message that climate change is a prevalent issue in today’s society and the importance of doing something about it.  

This protest began with a Swedish girl’s desire for change. At the age of 15, Greta Thunberg didn’t go to school for three weeks –  instead, she sat outside the Swedish parliament to draw attention to the climate crisis. Greta said about climate change: “We can’t change the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed.” Now, students from over 100 countries are also wanting to stop climate change. 

Our experiences consisted of us taking a bus to Bondi Junction (from school) and then catching a train to Town Hall in the city. It was great to even go on the train and see other students around our age coming together to be a part of such a great cause. It was even more surreal when we arrived at Town Hall and saw even more students gathered to fight for climate change. It was amazing to see that we had gathered from all across Sydney to be there for the same reason. We felt very honoured and proud to be a part of such a spectacular event and for representing Emanuel School by wearing our uniforms. Everyone was very passionate about the cause and many made posters.

We felt very privileged and honoured to be a part of this impactful event and we hope that one day the government will listen and do something about climate change. The first step for the Sydney and Australian Government is to stop the Adani coal mine. Please help them listen and act to save our future.

Photo: Source Twitter @GretaThunberg