Youth Strike 4 Climate: Why thousands of children are missing school to protest climate change today Pupils from more than 30 towns and cities across the UK are expected to walk out

Thousands of children are expected to walk out of school today, as part of a coordinated action to force action on climate change policy.

Pupils will skip classes at schools and colleges across the country, as part of a worldwide campaign.

What is Youth Strike 4 Climate?

The Youth Strike 4 Climate is a coordinated strike by young people across the country, where children and young people won’t go to school and will instead stage a protest.

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It was inspired by Greta Thunberg, a 15-year-old Swedish girl who launched a solitary protest outside the Swedish parliament in the run-up to their elections.

The UK movement is demanding the Government declares a climate emergency, reforms the national curriculum, and takes steps to communicate the severity of the crisis.

Who’s organising it?

The UK Student Climate Network is an umbrella organisation bringing together a number of groups working on empowering under 18s to take action.

They’re also working with a number of other climate change groups, including the UK Youth Climate Coalition, Greenpeace, and Green & Black Cross.

Where else has held climate strikes?

There have already been a number of individual strikes across the UK, but this is the first time the action will be coordinated centrally.

Strikes have taken place in other countries though, with Australia holding a day of action last November, and there are also plans in America.

Speaking to the Guardian, Jake Woodier of UK Youth Climate Action, said: “The images of what Greta did and then the huge strikes by schoolchildren in other countries have been widely shared by young people on social media and have really inspired people.”

A global day of action is also planned on 15 March.

How many people will be taking part?

Organisers estimate that there will be events in more than 30 cities and towns across the UK, including London, Glasgow, Oxford, Manchester and Truro.

They say this will translate into thousands of young people.

What are the rules about taking a day off school?

“Having only 12 years left to cut CO2 emissions by 50 per cent, as per the latest UN IPCC report, is pretty dire and exceptional circumstances to find ourselves in. And it is in that light that I’m giving my child permission.”

Template Letter

According to the Department for Education, children are normally only authorised to take days off for medical reasons or “exceptional circumstances”.

However, a template letter for protesters’ parents to use claims that “having only 12 years left to cut CO2 emissions by 50 per cent, as per the latest UN IPCC report, is pretty dire and exceptional circumstances to find ourselves in. And it is in that light that I’m giving my child permission.”

In reality, it will be down to individual schools to decide on what, if anything, happens to protesters, with some strikers saying they’ve had mixed messages.

How bad is the situation?

A swathe of reports in the last few months have highlighted the severity of the situation, with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change saying that even if emissions are halved in 12 years, the temperature will still rise by 1.5°C.

Greenland’s ice was also found to be melting four times faster than previously thought, and scientists warning the climate could go back 50 million years if there is no reduction in emissions.