March 15 in History
Approximately 1.4 million young people in 123 countries go on strike to protest climate change
An estimated 1.4 million young people in 123 countries skipped school on this day in 2019 to demand stronger climate policies in what may be one of the largest environmental protests in history. The global event, which saw 2,200 strikes across the world, was initiated by Swedish pupil Greta Thunberg, who staged a protest in August 2018 outside the Swedish Riksdag (Parliament), holding a sign that read ‘Skolstrejk för klimatet’ (‘School strike for climate’). Also known variously as Fridays for Future (FFF), Youth for Climate, Climate Strike or Youth Strike for Climate, it grew into an international movement of school children who skip Friday classes to participate in demonstrations to demand action from political leaders to prevent climate change and for the fossil fuel industry to transition to renewable energy. The global strike was followed by a second strike on May 24, 2019, in which 1,600 events across 150 countries drew hundreds of thousands of protesters. The events were timed to coincide with the 2019 European Parliament election.
-Wikipedia