Do you think the youth climate protests are working?

Polls

21st April 2019

THOUSANDS of young activists brought a fresh wave of climate protests to the UK last week.

This third round of protests comes just weeks after thousands of kids skipped school to go on strike in an attempt to make politicians open their eyes to the global climate crisis – as reported on our front page back in February.

In March, even more young people were empowered to call for climate justice as part of the biggest ever global climate strike, which saw more than 1.5 million young people demonstrate in over 120 countries.

Showing they mean serious business, thousands more young people and activists gathered last week in the centre of 50 British towns to demand action from the Government. As with previous strikes, similar demonstrations took place in cities across the world, including Helsinki in Finland and Delhi in India.

In London, young protesters brought Oxford Street to a halt, after sitting in the middle of the street, obstructing traffic and shoppers.

They say the third time’s the charm, but the UK Student Climate Network – the organisation behind the demonstrations – isn’t showing any signs of stopping yet. They say on their website: “We, the youth, are rising up. We have no choice. Failure is not an option.”

The group is calling for a Green New Deal – a political and economic transformation that will work in the interests of people and the planet while addressing the climate crisis on a timescale that recognises just how serious the situation is.

Environment Secretary Michael Gove has spoken of his support for the strikes, saying: “Collective action of the kind you’re championing can make a difference, and a profound [very great] one.”

The youth climate movement was inspired by Swedish schoolgirl Greta Thunberg, who famously went on strike from school every Friday.

Do you think the youth climate protests are working?

50 Comments

Leave a Reply

luciemay · 6 years ago

I don't think the climate protests are working at the moment, only because the politcal leaders a busy negotiating Brexit. I think once Brexit has completed, everyone can start to think about changing the way we treat our world and what we do to it that is causing harm. I think that the more young people come out and protest, the more listeners we will get, as we will be protesting for our future rights.

mhkmal · 6 years ago

More people especially adults need to help out, kids are just kids, and adults are more known of so please help climate change protests adults and children!

lilpenguin · 6 years ago

I think (and hope) that if the climate protests continue people will actually do something about it instead of just talking about it!!

aeroplane · 6 years ago

No because people are getting arrested and then going back to the streets only to get arrested again.

aylarc22 · 6 years ago

No

aylarc22 · 6 years ago

1st to comment!!! ?

zsanaz3 · 6 years ago

I don't think they are working because world leaders don't seem to be doing anything. Even if they are it doesn't seem to be having an effect.

wolflife · 6 years ago

They are obviously not working because the government is not taking action. All they are doing is trying to stop the protests.??The environment is dying.

newsfreak1 · 6 years ago

The government is not listening to the protests ;(

pizza1 · 6 years ago

Although I would like to say yes, I know that not everyone is taking it seriously, some people are listening, but others are acting as if they do not care.

pizza1 · 6 years ago

Although I would love to say yes, I don’t think that many of the world leaders are listening, after all, we are just children, but we still have the right to be heard.

afezza10 · 6 years ago

No,I don’t think that they are working because in last weeks newspaper it says that people aren’t doing anything about it so that means that instead of doing anything about it you just stand and listen to protests!

meatball20 · 6 years ago

I don't think it's working because the country's leaders think that they can deal with climate change later,but, if they aren't careful everything will turn against them!!!

hawkeye1 · 6 years ago

Yes because there is definitely more work being done by people like Michele Gove and the green party also to get good publicity people are getting arrested and then going to protest again which is getting parliments attention which is great!

mermaid14 · 6 years ago

Although (unfortunately) I don’t think these protests are particularly working I don’t believe that they should stop. The MPs are listening they just can’t put enough attention into the problem. We need to learn to prioritise: Brexit will soon seem normal if it goes through, it’s only for just now. Climate change is forever.

man2009 · 6 years ago

I think it is working as it is all over the news, mean people are noticing and with important people like David Attenborough backing us up, it might make a difference.

themyth · 6 years ago

I think they have the right idea, but are not carrying out in the best way. Stopping traffic may seem a good method, but it just sends more CO2 into the atmosphere and cars have to wait around at an inconvenience.

ginnywise · 6 years ago

Children need to be heard. Their voices are the foundation for the future, and we need to help save innocent animals to become extinct.

budgerigar · 6 years ago

Adults need to pay more attention to kids. Kids can do loads to help, but they can only do so much. There are some areas only adults can cover, so they should listen to what kids are trying to say.

aim123 · 6 years ago

Climate change protests are not working as even though people are protesting, politicians are doing nothing to help

orangeplum · 6 years ago

No, but at least blocking traffic means less carbon emissions.

reading123 · 6 years ago

I think they are working because it's always on all the media so everyone knows about it and are talking about it also the government has agreed to do monthly talks with young people over the subject, so in my opinion it is working.

yussy2006 · 6 years ago

Brexit has stopped many politicians to think about kids and they're protests, they don't realise that when they won't be alive we will be suffering just because of them. Once Brexit is over maybe then they will realise what all this is. Just because kids are doing all the hard work, doesn't mean adults shouldn't listen to us, we always listen to them, now it's our time to be heard.

RoseBun · 6 years ago

They might work but then there isn't any use in protesting because they aren't actually doing anything to help with climate change other than standing around with banners.
Does that help?
No

rainbowa · 6 years ago

no

teddyfer · 6 years ago

I don't think they are, but they could still make a difference in the future.?

sao · 6 years ago

some people are writing essays here- I mean no offence. I say that in a complimenting way

sao · 6 years ago

these selfish MPs only care about BREXIT/ the country PROBLEM ................................................................................

not CLIMATE CHANGEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE/ THE WORLD PROBLEM

?????????????????????

?‍♀️?‍♀️?‍♀️?‍♀️?‍♀️????????? THIS IS OUR FUTURE AND WORLD PEOPLE

WAIT HAVE I JUST WRITTEN TOO MUCH

WELL I CARE
HALF OF THIS ISE EMOJI

sao · 6 years ago

LOOKIN AT IT

sao · 6 years ago

IDK ABUT ANYTHING ELSE BUT THIS CLIMATE CHANGE

donkey4 · 6 years ago

As much as I support climate change protests this for me is much too violent. What would happen if an ambulance needs to get past and a person has glued them self to the street the ambulance has to use an alternate route which may take longer and put a life in danger. As well as this surely you can find a less violent way to get a point across. Personally I would try the latter option and less people will get arrested in the process.

star1234 · 6 years ago

Politicians need to do more. Adults need to help out as well kids are kids and we are the only ones fighting for climate change

brh_21 · 6 years ago

they r not working but they r costing the goverment

dcfan · 6 years ago

The protests are not working,they will only be working when we start doing something about it!

tata_2019 · 6 years ago

I don't think the climate protests are working at the moment, only because the political leaders a busy negotiating Brexit. I think once Brexit has completed, everyone can start to think about changing the way we treat our world and what we do to it that is causing harm. I think that the more young people come out and protest, the more listeners we will get, as we will be protesting for our future rights.
? ? ✌

By: †å†å_2019

blossomm · 6 years ago

I think that climate protests are starting to work however we need more people to protest otherwise not enough will be done and the planet won't survive.

rubikspark · 6 years ago

I think they are because over the past few months, people have been trying to do something about climate change - its true.

rubikspark · 6 years ago

?

antidisest · 6 years ago

May I just mention that the climate change protests are happening globally not just in Britain like in one of the previous copies of first News it was about a girl (Greta Thunberg) and word of her strike went globally viral and she was from Sweden and has influenced not just children but adults as well

-arrow8- · 6 years ago

I think something needs to happen to stop climate change and to save our world that we took over, if we take something, we should look after it.

dog_lover2 · 6 years ago

I think that they are starting to work because the government have now declared a state of emergency which is very good remember this is the only planet we have got people! We need to try really hard and save it!!!!!

#SAVETHEPLANET

dog_lover2 · 6 years ago

Use this hashtag if you care about our planet and want to help save it. :)

PinaEgg123 · 6 years ago

Although I would also love to say yes, and really hope that they do in the future, I don't think that at the moment they are being taken seriously. Nobody has been talking about it at my school and lots of the media are seeing the strikes and protests as frustrating and annoying, as they are apparently making children skip school and making people late for work or even not able to go to work, like during the blockades of Oxford Circus by Extinction Rebellion. Sometimes also, because of the lack of interest surrounding me by my peers, it can seem like a distant issue that may be deemed annoying and overrated. But what I think people need to understand is that there is no way this issue is overrated in any way, in fact that would be impossible because this issue is the biggest-scale threat that will affect every single human on this earth. Brexit won't!

bunnyboy10 · 6 years ago

No because their just striking not actually helping the environment

lol123 · 5 years ago

I think it is working little by little but I think they should be concentrating on this instead of stupid BREXIT!?

theweasel · 5 years ago

I wish they were :( The goverment needs to listen!!!

5honypony · 5 years ago

I think they are making a slight difference but no matter what they do, the adults don’t listen! We could make a massive difference if adults listened. Children don’t have much control so we need to be heard.

lilpenguin · 5 years ago

I hope so

superpug27 · 5 years ago

This is an old poll but I still want to get my point across. I don’t like protests. They stop everyday workers that are probably tired just to get their point across. Obviously, climate change is a problem, we should stop it blah blah blah. BUT! I think we shouldn’t be doing these protests. There are a lot more important things at steak and the government HAS done something about it. They’ve given literally BILLIONS of pounds or dollars to help stop climate change and it goes unnoticed by the media. Lots of media coverages like to smack these ‘protests’ on the front page of the news when they don’t want to when people ACTUALLY act. That’s why I like FirstNews, they show what people haven’t done to help things (Thank you first news!). Also, I don’t like Greta Thunberg. I know! It’s an unpopular opinion but she lies and is not polite. For example, when she was going back to Sweden she posted a photo of her saying: “Finally going back home on an overcrowded train” an de a picture of her sitting on the floor. The train company got back to her and said that they gave her a FIRST CLASS TICKET on the train. Also, she kept saying: “I should be in school, but you FORCED me to act on this problem” when we didn’t tell her to do anything. Yes, obviously she should act if she wants but the government has done stuff to help but she’s still not satisfied?

katkid10 · 4 years ago

I hope that they will.