Today is one of those history book moments. An unprecedented youth-led coalition is in the midst of a global climate strike, telling global leaders that the time for climate talk is over. The teens are mad as hell, and they’re telling the world the time to act is now.
While we don’t yet know what future history books will say about today, we do know how we got here. What started as a solitary strike by teenage activist Greta Thunberg on the steps of the Swedish parliament protesting climate inaction has morphed into something gigantic. Roughly 3,000 strikes are planned across 150 countries, many of which have already popped off. In Sydney, 80,000 strikers showed up. In Berlin, another 80,000. In the Solomon Islands, dozens of strikers arrived by boat. With the sun up in the U.S., now it’s New York’s moment to turn out.
Gizmodo will be out covering the strike in New York. Earther will be tweeting live coverage on-the-ground and we’ll have you covered on Gizmodo’s Instagram story. Our staff and local student journalists will also be writing stories about today’s events, so stay tuned for more coverage later today and through the weekend.
But beyond covering the strikes, we’ll also be a participant. Gizmodo will be pausing publication on the site from 4-6 p.m. ET in solidarity with the strikers and their demands. After all, there’s no tech coverage on a dead planet.
Young adults have called on the world to stop building an unjust economic system based on growth and unchecked carbon pollution that will fracture their futures. The science backs them up. And the time to undertake the massive task of turning away from fossil fuels, protecting workers and vulnerable communities, and remaking the economy, agriculture, and, well, basically everything is running out. The only ones coming to save us are ourselves.