Students strike for climate action

YOUNG environmental activists continued their calls for climate action last Friday, striking from school at the Bendigo Library Gardens from 11.30am to 5.30pm.

Seventeen-year-old strike student leader and member of the Bendigo Youth Council, Ildi Clemens, said it was important the youth-led school strikes are held in regional towns.

“The more awareness of the issue the better,” she said. “More local politicians and members of parliament can see that the community is on board with what the metropolitan areas are protesting for.

“Youth are the ones who will be the leaders of the future so we’re expressing what we want, and we want to start seeing the action happening now. We want a safe environment to grow up in.”

The strike made four main assertions surrounding a wider demand for the Federal Government to fund young people’s futures, not gas, and Ms Clemens said she hoped the strike would “engage the Bendigo community in the action that’s taking place over the rest of the nation.”

“It’s my responsibility to protect our future of this generation because our government is not acting, and they need to act now especially in the aftermath of COVID-19 and working towards the recovery,” Ms Clemens said.

“We shouldn’t be funding gas, we should be looking to more renewables and funding our future.

“Greta Thunberg started a movement which really inspired students all over the globe which really shows the importance of the issue and how large scale it is and how it’s a big concern for everybody, not just a small cluster of students.

“I think every town needs to have action like this happening to really kick up a fuss and gain attention from the politicians,” she said.