DZIKHI
Their voice Young people’s voice of opposition towards the future awaiting them on the Earth is becoming louder and more powerful. Yet, it often meets with dismissive comments from adults. We diminish the value of their actions and activism, accusing them of merely following fashion or being mercenary. Is it not the case that in the times of easy and unlimited access to scientific research on the future of our planet, it is us who behave in a childish and irresponsible way?
w intervie e h t h it w s a nt tive represe h t u o of the Y Protest Climate
movement Fridays for Future which gathers young people from all over the world. We are a grassroots movement, which means that we are independent, we organise the strikes ourselves and make all decisions ourselves. Besides, we are all equal. Climate neutrality – this is your aim. How can you, as young people, have influence on achieving it? Climate neutrality is a situation in which people emit only as much greenhouse gases as nature is able to absorb. Currently we are struggling with climate crisis, as our emission is much too high, which contributes to the continuous acceleration of the global warming. It is a global problem, for which everyone of us is responsible. Naturally, some countries contribute more to the global warming than others. However, the problem is caused by all of us. That is why we overcome our differences. We do not put the blame on other nations, the United States or China. We are working together with our peers from various countries committed to one cause. What we are going to do today will have impact on us all in several or several dozen years. We, as young people, can draw attention to this issue. Before we started, the issue rarely appeared in the media or public debate. The fact that today it so popular is our little success and the first sign that, after all, people do care. It gives us hope that it can work. Naturally, we do not stop at that. We want to make adults, decision-makers and Polish government take action which would guarantee us safe future. We are also working on raising awareness among our peers – after all, we are to replace the people in power in a few years.
In recent months, Porta Posnania’s Department of Education has been involved in a vocational training project with young people. This cooperation, apart from helping us do a good job, made us realise that young people know what they want and they can talk about it in a conciliatory and intelligent way. Therefore, I am pleased to say that now it is their time to talk about the climate. The floor is theirs. Anna Mieszała, TRAKT CTC: Who is involved in the Youth Climate Protest (YCP; Polish: Młodzieżowy Strajk Klimatyczny) in Poznań? Poznań YCP: We are a group of students from Poznań schools; there are also some university students among us. It is difficult to describe us, as every member is unique in their own way. We are different, we have different passions and opinions. There are artists, humanists, people interested in science and animal lovers among us. What we have in common is the fact that we care about our planet and its climate. We started as a small group of several people who were disturbed by climate change and the authorities’ inaction. We found each other via Facebook and we met two times. This is how the first protest, which gathered hundreds of students from Poznań schools, was organised. Since then more and more people have wanted to join us. Currently, YCP comprises about 40 members. It should be noted, however, that we are part of the Polish Youth Climate Protest as well as of the international
You are very busy – tell us what you do locally. In Poznań we are trying to popularise knowledge on the climate crisis among both young people and adults. We organise various events, workshops and lectures, we participate in panel discussions 44
