YOUNG people in Redditch are to hold a second Youth Strike 4 Climate outside the Town Hall in Alcester Street this Friday, April 12.
The action is part of a global movement to combat climate change with campaigners saying not enough is being done to stop irreversible damage to Planet Earth.
“We will be carrying out another strike to demand climate justice and send a clear message to the government,” said local organiser Alisha Zahid.
“We will not stop our strikes until the climate crisis is treated like the crisis it is and drastic action is taken.”
Local youngsters took action last month, again outside the Town Hall, calling on Redditch Borough Council to join 37 other local authorities in declaring a climate emergency and taking direct action to combat climate change, for instance by committing to going carbon neutral.
They immediately won local support, with Borough Leader Councillor Matt Dormer (Con, West) backing their campaign, although so far the authority has not met the campaigners’ demands.
Other supporters included Coun Anthony Lovell (Con, Winyates) who at the first protest said: “We are simply not taking climate change seriously, the loss of biodiversity, everything to do with the natural environment is being swept under the carpet.
“We have got to as a society change our ways, otherwise in 20 years time where are we going to be?”
The Reverend Steve Levett from the Ecumenical Centre added: “I am glad to support the stand these young people are taking. We have got to take climate change seriously and change our ways.
“Usually it’s the adults making the decisions and it challenges us when young people speak out and it gives me hope that our you people are grasping this issue.”
Friday’s Youth Strike 4 Climate in Redditch will be part of a nationwide day of action by the UK’s young people.
They will also be promoting a Green New Deal which, as a first step, calls for the country to quickly reach an emissions neutral position ‘through a government-led, ten year mobilisation for a just and prosperous transition including the infrastructure needed to benefit all communities and workers.’
For more details on the campaign, visit https://ukscn.org/ys4c
