YOUTH CLIMATE MARCH
Thousands of student climate change protesters descend on central London in record-breaking turnout
Youngsters across the globe are on strike to demand their politicians save the world from impending environmental catastrophe
THOUSANDS of student climate change protesters have descended on central London today in a record-breaking turnout.
Waving placards and smoke flares, they joined more than a million youngsters demonstrating across at least 110 countries.
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More than 120 protests are taking place in the UK despite exams taking place in schools around the country - with demos in London, Brighton, Birmingham and Edinburgh expected to be particularly popular.
In London, students were gathering in Parliament Square before marching on the Department for Education.
Cops were photographed grappling with protesters outside the Department Of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, though the number of arrests was not yet known.
Officers could also be seen taking away a young woman, who appeared to be resisting arrest.
'TEACH THE FUTURE'
The strike calls on ministers to "Teach the Future", by reforming the curriculum to include more material on climate change.
Shakira Martin, a former president of the National Union of Students, will address the London demonstration.
Similar large-scale youth protests took place in February and March this year, with students "striking" from school to take part.
Extinction Rebellion, which organised protests in London last month, said it is not involved in Friday's event but supports the cause.
Although the strikes are a "decentralised movement" and have no formal leader, many consider Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg to be the figurehead.
Ms Thunberg began "striking" from school on Fridays to lobby the Swedish parliament on climate change in August 2018.
Her protest sparked similar strikes across Europe, North America and Australia.
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Across the other side of the world, one striker taking part in Fridays for Future was Aussie Nina Pasqualini.
The 13-year-old was attending a rally in Melbourne led by the group Extinction Rebellion — the same group which brought parts of London to a standstill in April with widespread demos.
Nina said: "I'm worried about all the weather disasters.
"Every time we have huge a bush fire here another animal might go extinct."
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UK spokesman Jake Woodier, 26, said the Teach the Future campaign is designed to educate students more about climate change in schools.
"Students are really learning and gaining their knowledge from outside of education," he said.
"We're calling for dramatic reform of the education system to provide students with the knowledge and tools to be equipped for the changing world which they're going to be inheriting."
What is climate change?
Climate change describes a set of circumstances created by humankind that is causing the Earth to heat up.
This rising of the Earth's temperature is often talked about in the context of the "greenhouse effect" to explain the damage being wreaked on our planet.
Without the greenhouse effect the Earth's surface would be an average of about 60 degrees Fahrenheit cooler, and therefore unlivable.
The effect allows gases in but keeps heat from escaping from the earth, like the glass walls of a greenhouse.
However, over the past century humans have aggravated the greenhouse effect by dramatically increasing the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
Human sources of CO2 come from activities such as deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas.
Since the Industrial Revolution the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has rocketed by a third.
This rapid rise has had a direct impact on the Earth's average temperature, with potentially catastrophic consequences.
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