Youth Strike for Climate, London, UK, 20th September 2019 © Ron Fassbender
climate strike (noun): a form of protest in which people absent themselves from education or work in order to join demonstrations demanding action to counter climate change.
Inspired, in part, by 16-year-old schoolgirl Greta Thunberg’s protests outside the Swedish Parliament, from 2019 thousands of young people from schools, colleges and universities joined a succession of protests in London and across the UK calling on government and business to take the threat of climate change more seriously.
As well as the young age of most of the participants the protests also had an energy, spontaneity and abundance of impressive home-made placards which distinguished the school strikes from earlier demonstrations I'd photographed around the issue of climate change and the environment.
This mass mobilization of young people, both in the UK and around the world, became difficult to ignore and in 2019 'Climate Strike' became Collins Dictionary’s Word of the Year. Following the tabling of a motion by Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn, who addressed the youth strikers in Parliament Square, the UK parliament became the first to declare a "climate and environment emergency". The declaration, however, was largely symbolic and had no real legislative force and the climate strikes continued. - RF
Student climate strike, Whitehall, London, 15/2/19. Image 008. © Ron Fassbender
Student climate strike, Parliament Square, London, 15/2/19. Image 001. © Ron Fassbender
Student climate strike, Whitehall, London, 15/2/19. Image 003. © Ron Fassbender
Student climate strike, Whitehall, London, 15/2/19. Image 004. © Ron Fassbender
Student climate strike, Parliament Street, London, 15/2/19. Image 005. © Ron Fassbender
Student climate strike, London, 15/2/19. Image 002. © Ron Fassbender
Student climate strike, London, 15/2/19. Image 009. © Ron Fassbender
Student climate strike, London, 15/2/19. Image 010. © Ron Fassbender
Student climate strike, London, 15/2/19. Image 012. © Ron Fassbender
Student climate strike, London, 15/2/19. Image 013. © Ron Fassbender
Student climate strike, London, 15/2/19. Image 011. © Ron Fassbender
Student climate strike, London, 15/2/19. Image 006. © Ron Fassbender
Student climate strike, London, 15/2/19. Image 010. © Ron Fassbender
Student climate strike, London, 15/2/19. Image 015. © Ron Fassbender
