Truth be told, they didn't need editing. Justin Alford, 16 It is sickening that our leaders have rejected the EPA’s emissions guidelines; instead, they have given in to the demands of giant fossil fuel cry-babies. While the big coal and gas bullies have struck fear within our governments, they have not struck fear within young people. My name is Justin Alford, I am a 16-year-old student from Baldivis Secondary College and I’m currently in year 11. I am one of the many students who will be attending the strike on Friday, March 15. My sort of education may be different from other people’s. At Baldivis Secondary College, I was taught of the devastating impacts climate change will have upon Australia’s natural and urban landscape.

I was taught that burning coal and other fossil fuels actually release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, which means that it traps heat within the atmosphere and is one of the gases that greatly induces the worst effects of climate change. The coal barons and gas merchants are currently profiting off this, and humanity is losing as a result. I became interested in climate change as scathing headlines regarding natural and ecological disasters started to appear more frequently. Bushfires are more intense than ever, floods and droughts are crippling the eastern states, the great barrier reef is dying etc. The list is endless, but all of these disasters point to one culprit, climate change. I am absolutely appalled at the way that the Federal and state government are dealing with this issue. It is sickening that our leaders have rejected the EPA’s emissions guidelines; instead, they have given in to the demands of giant fossil fuel cry-babies. While the big coal and gas bullies have struck fear within our governments, they have not struck fear within young people. We won’t be silenced; we will march onto the streets and we’ll be making our voices heard.

Students are planning to go on strike to demand serious climate action. Credit:Eddie Jim My parents are very supportive of my intention to strike, they think that I am doing the right thing, and that young people like me deserve a chance to voice their concerns and make sure they aren heard. While the Department of Education has silenced public school staff from voicing their opinions when it comes to this, I strongly believe there are very supportive and sympathetic faculty members within my school. Climate change is one of the biggest problems facing my generation, but it isn’t being addressed and acted upon quickly enough. I don’t want to live and raise children in a dead planet. Simply going to school isn’t doing anything about climate change and it seems like our Politicians aren’t either. So, to tell our politicians to change our fate of impending climate doom, I am striking from school on March 15.

I urge anyone who are passionate about the wellbeing of our planet to join us on March 15, no matter who you are or how old you are, all are welcome. Sampson McCrackan, 15 The more I learn the more desperate things feel. I can’t say I have had much of an education about climate change in school, I have learnt most about its effects outside of school, and the more I learn the more concerned I become; desertification, droughts, flooding, cyclones deforestation, famine and extinction of species are becoming more and more common. I have been concerned about climate change for a long time, probably since I was roughly 10 to 11 in Year 6 and again, the more I learn the more desperate things feel and in general I’d say the climate reports are becoming more and more dire with each one. I am extremely concerned over how world leaders are handling climate change, many treat it as just another partisan squabble, lots of them seem to be under the notion that we can do ‘too much’ to slow climate change, this is simply not true. Climate Change is the biggest catastrophe humans have ever faced, bigger than any war or plague in our history.

I haven’t even begun to mention Jair Bolsonaro who wants to build a highway through the Amazon and open it up to logging, and Donald Trump who seems completely unable to grasp the idea of climate change, seeing it as a good thing. My parents are supportive of the strike and my school has said that they are fine with it if the parents are and have been OK with me putting up posters around my school. Students across Australia walked out of school in November last year to protest inaction on climate change. Credit:Louie Douvis In summary, the reason why I’m striking is because the governments and businesses of the worlds have done too little to deal with climate change and too much for short-term profit. My main message and hope is for people to stand up and take action; participating in protests and contacting your local MPs and tell them they need to do more to deal with climate change for example, and know what policies are required. Siobhan Sutton, 14

We need a swift and just transition to renewable energy, and we need our government – the very people elected to protect us and our rights – to facilitate this transition. Despite the prevalence of climate change to both the youth of this generation and society in general, I haven’t received much education on this issue at school. I find this to be an appalling oversight – climate change is one of the biggest threats to the future so not educating those who will be directly affected is atrocious. Personally, climate change has always been a very important issue to me since a young age. But the recent observable effects of climate change have really scared me, particularly in terms of the lack of action by our government. We are already feeling the effects of climate change on our ecosystems, showcasing the fact that we must act now. To put it bluntly, our leaders aren’t dealing with this issue. We need a swift and just transition to renewable energy, and we need our government – the very people elected to protect us and our rights – to facilitate this transition. That the government is not taking any steps in this direction is very worrying in terms of our future.

Loading I am so thankful and lucky to have my parents see the importance of this issue and support me in my endeavours to make change; however, in terms of my school, the administration has decided not to support the movement – although I have talked with various teachers encouraging of and sympathetic to the cause. Today, tens of thousands of students across Australia and across the world will take to the streets to protest the inaction on climate change by our governments. Australian students specifically will be protesting for three main aims: to stop the Adani Carmichael coal mine, to have no new fossil fuel projects established, and to commit to and reach plans of 100 per cent renewable energy by 2030. Bella Burgemeister, 13

We need future thinkers. People who can plan 50 years and even 100 years into our future. They are destroying our planet for greed and power and will leave us with nothing but a depleted and dead planet. They can ignore us but we are going to continue until they listen. My school at the time wasn’t supportive and our principal told the kids that “Without Fracking you wouldn’t have food or clothes”. I knew this wasn’t right from my research I was doing writing my book, so I started to educate myself at home. My Mum showed me The World’s Largest Lesson by Malala at age nine, and I knew I wanted to make change. I got passionate and went to a Millennium Kids meeting and realised there were kids just like me. I decided to write a book about the 17 UN Global Goals called Bella’s Challenge and now I take my book into schools and talk to the students about how they can help the planet and climate change which is Global Goal #13 Global Action. They are not dealing with it at all. They are right-now thinking, and we need future thinkers. People who can plan 50 years and even 100 years into our future. They are destroying our planet for greed and power and will leave us with nothing but a depleted and dead planet. They can ignore us but we are going to continue until they listen and take action. My parents are my teachers. Right now, I am home-schooled. My parents support my decision and know how hard I work to make my community and the planet a better place.

Students Manit Anand, 14, Meg Raven, 15, and Danielle Villafana-Pore, 15, will strike on Friday for climate action. Credit:Jessica Hromas If left climate change will cause average global temperatures to increase beyond 3°C and will badly affect every ecosystem on Earth. We are seeing how climate change can cause species worldwide becoming extinct at an alarming rate, cause coral bleaching, increase storms and natural disasters, land is being consumed by rising water levels and threats such as food and water shortage which can lead to conflict and wars on many levels. By the middle of this century, experts estimate that climate change is likely to displace between 150 and 300 million people. Climate Refugees! We must stand up and fight like our lives depend on it because they do! We are giving up our childhood to fight for our future. Laleuca Banister Jones, 12 They're choosing their own power and bank accounts over our planet and our future.

I have just started at high school and so far we haven't done anything on climate change. We had an excellent environment program at Walpole Primary School and learned a lot about the Walpole Wilderness and Marine Park. I realised climate change was a major issue last year when I heard about the global strike for climate. I suppose I've grown up knowing that climate change is happening, but it wasn't until the students started striking that I became curious about why it's a problem that so many people are taking so seriously. It bothers me that the people in power, who could take immediate action on climate change, just aren't. They know it's serious but they're not taking action. They could stop the emissions but they're choosing their own power and bank accounts over our planet and our future. I want to see them making this a priority, by getting rid of petrol cars and replacing them with electric cars, replacing coal and oil with renewable alternatives and acting on what the scientists and other experts are saying. The scientists say we only have 12 years to turn this around or it's going to be too late and it seems to me that the government doesn't have the plans or the willingness to put us on the right track.

The fact that the government is talking about allowing new coal mines is unthinkable. My parents are very supportive. I'm lucky to have a mum who has been working in forest conservation for the whole time I've been alive so I've seen that when things matters and people make a noise and be persistent they can make a change. Loading I've really enjoyed working with some other students to organise the strike. I feel grateful that I've got a group of friends around me who feel the same way and understand how I'm feeling. We've been disappointed that our principal has been negative about the strike. I guess there are going to be people who don't support what we're doing but I think that once everyone realises how important it is that we deal with climate change urgently, they'll realise that everyone needs to take action, and this is the action we can take to make a difference. I'm striking tomorrow because it's clear that the government isn't doing nearly enough to stop destructive climate change. Striking works, it gets people's attention. This is an emergency.