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UPDATED 1:17 PM EST
UPDATED 11:49 AM EST: Hundreds of Baltimore City School students walked out of class today because “The people in charge of our government are putting children in jeopardy.”
Thousands of students including at The Baltimore School for the Arts, to call for urgent action on climate change #YouthClimateStrike #FridaysForFuture pic.twitter.com/xHR8WVqn6B
— Jaisal Noor (@jaisalnoor) September 20, 2019
Over a million kids are expected to skip school on Friday to demand world leaders take on the climate crisis with the urgency it deserves.
Organizers say over 5,000 actions will take place in 157 countries, kicking off a week of youth-led climate action.
The Real News will be on the ground in New York and Baltimore, so stay tuned for updates throughout the day.
To show support, New York City and Boston school districts plan to excuse all absences for participants. Amnesty International has also backed the strike, and is urging schools nationwide to not discipline students who walk out of classes.
The strike comes months after 1.4 million students took part in a worldwide climate walkout in March, and organizers expect Friday’s numbers to surpass that. This time, youth organizers have explicitly encouraged adults to join the strike, too.
This Friday’s action falls on the two-year anniversary of Hurricane Maria’s devastating landfall in Puerto Rico, which killed thousands. It also comes just days before the major United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York.
‘I want you to unite behind the science. And then I want you to take real action.’ — @GretaThunberg shared this powerful message while testifying to Congress about climate change pic.twitter.com/c9zU6tA0uB
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) September 18, 2019
New York’s action will feature young climate leaders such as plaintiffs in the Juliana vs United States case, members of youth-led environmental organizations Zero Hour and the Sunrise Movement, and 16-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg.
Earlier this week, Thunberg appeared in front of Congress alongside other youth climate leaders to urge representative to heed scientists’ warnings and push forth climate policy.
“This is not the time and place for dreams, this is the time to wake up,” she said before the House Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday. “This is the moment in history we need to be wide awake,”