Cloughjordan school strikers celebrate declaration of Climate Emergency

At the last gathering of Cloughjordan school strikers, on Friday May 10th, the children and adults discussed the recent national declaration of Climate and Biodiversity Emergency.

This has been the first demand of both the school strikes movement and also of Extinction Rebellion. Ireland is the second country in the world to make this declaration. As such it seemed important to celebrate this and enjoy some tasty treats together.

While these gatherings have had a good element of fun, it is also empowering for the children to feel part of a global movement that is actually bringing about change. The children discussed their thoughts on the declaration and painted a huge banner.

Many people have commented that this national declaration is symbolic and, in some way, pointless. Richard Bruton has since stated that Ireland is “not in a position now to talk about ceasing fossil fuel exploration”. This is very disappointing considering Ireland is the second worst in the EU in terms of meeting our climate change commitments. Making progress on this is of course going to require significant changes.

With this in mind, a comprehensive pathway towards meeting these goals was also passed in the Dáil, the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action (JOCCA) Report. While this is acknowledged as still insufficient, it is still a potent and clear step forward.

Much of what is suggested in this is challenging and will meet resistance. Yet what would we expect to have to do in a state of emergency.  David Attenborough says: “Right now, we’re facing a manmade disaster of global scale. Our greatest threat in thousands of years - climate change. If we don’t take action, the collapse of our civilisations and the extinction of much of the natural world is on the horizon.” Given the scale of this crises, we must “Now, Act like it’s an Emergency”, according to the giant colourful banner the children painted at Friday’s climate strike.

These are times of great change, both in terms of climate but also in terms of public awareness and willingness to address these issues. At the last international school strike on March 15th, there were over 10,000 out in protest in Dublin alone,  with hundreds of thousands worldwide, all striking to demand climate action from their governments. The next big action worldwide is an international strike for climate action on Friday, May 24th. Everyone is welcome to participate alongside the students, to demand necessary action.

Patrick O’Connor from Extinction Rebellion says: “If the public are not regularly informed of the unfolding climate emergency, how can we expect to respond as we must?”

The Cloughjordan Schools Strikes for Climate Action meet approximately every second week between 1-3pm. We have a Facebook page where we post some updates of our activities. If anyone from surrounding schools would like to join us we would be delighted!

Also, as part of Biodiversity week, Patrick O'Connor will be giving a short presentation of some of the findings of the IPBES Assessment Report. He will also give an overview of some of the modern responses to the climate and biodiversity threats, including the Schools Strikes for Climate Action and Extinction Rebellion protests.

There will be space for small group discussion on these topics and some open plenary space. This will take place in the Heritage Centre in Cloughjordan on Saturday, May 18th, at 5pm. This is a free event and all are welcome.