Students are to take to the streets of Dublin once again today for the latest round of worldwide climate strikes.
The strikes are already underway in Australia and the Irish leg is due to begin outside the Dáil at lunchtime.
Thousands of Irish people joined the last round of strikes in September and the School’s Climate Action Network (SCAN) said it is hoping politicians will hear its message “loud and clear” today.
Today’s demonstration will take particular aim at plans to build a €500m Liquified Natural Gas [LNG] terminal on the Shannon Estuary in County Kerry.
Campaigners have warned that pipeline will be used to import fracked gas from the US – despite the ban on fracking in Ireland.
“Just when we think our government is beginning to listen, they go and plan a back door deal to import nationally banned fracked gas into Shannon,” SCAN said in a statement.
A protester wearing a globe mask takes part in the global climate strike demonstration in London, 20-09-2019. Image: SOPA Images/SIPA USA/PA ImagesThe group noted that not only there severe environmental consequences associated with the technique; importing gas extracted through it will do nothing to reduce Ireland’s reliance on fossil fuels.
Molly Gordon Boles from Temple Carrig School Greystones said: "We are sick of the government saying one thing but then not backing up those words with actions.”
“The Shannon LNG project is a prime example of this. Fracking is banned in Ireland, why are we importing it?”
Salim Kajani from St Michael's College in Dublin said the Shannon LNG project “lacks any gain other than short-term economic.”
“The reality is, the creation of a fracked gas terminal on the Shannon estuary would lock us in to natural gas dependence for 30-50 years.
“Because we have 10 years to halve our emissions, and until we have to 2050 to become carbon neutral, the entire venture seems ignorant of the facts.”
Greta Thunberg, the 16 year-old Swedish climate activists. On September 20, 2019, an estimated 250,000 people marched in New York City as part of a global strike protesting climate change. Organizers have estimated around four million people took to the streets in thousands of cities worldwide. (Photo by Michael Nigro/Sipa USA)The climate strike movement was started by teen activist Greta Thunberg who last year made her way to Swedish Parliament every Friday to hold solo protests instead of attending class.
She is currently sailing back from the US ahead where she delivered a speech to the UN Climate Action Summit in New York.
Her now-famous “how dare you?” speech took politicians to task for failing to tackle the crisis and looking to young people for inspiration.
In a post on Instagram, she urged people of all ages to back the demonstrations.
The protests got underway in Australia this morning outside the offices of the country’s ruling Liberal party.
The country has been hit by a devastating early bushfire season this year with huge fires burning through several states.
The fires have burned through millions of acres of farmland and bush in New South Wales in what is one of the most devastating starts to a fire season in history.
Speaking at the protests, teenager Shiann Broderic, whose home was burned down in the fires warned Prime Minister Scott Morrison, “your thoughts and prayers are not enough.
"Our government's inaction on the climate crisis has supercharged bushfires," she
"People are hurting. Communities like ours are being devastated. Summer hasn't even begun."
A Climate Strike poster hangs on a column in front of the bust of Johann Wolfgang Goethe in Leipzig, Germany, 28-11-2019. Image: Jan Woitas/dpa-Zentralbild/dpaThe protests will continue around the world throughout the day.
It comes ahead of the 25th UN Climate Change Conference, which gets underway in Madrid next week.
It runs from December 2nd to 13th.
