Hundreds of children walk out of schools to join the global strike against climate change

Hundreds of children and young people are walking out of lessons and lectures today to strike against climate change.

Over 5000 events are taking place in 156 countries world wide- Including Cumbria, Dumfries and Galloway and the Scottish Borders.

The #FridaysForFuture movementis led by Swedish student and climate change activist Greta Thunberg.

Thunberg, 16, first began protesting for action in summer 2018 when she sat in front of the Swedish parliament every school day for 3 weeks.

She posted what she was doing on Instagram and Twitter and it soon went viral.

Now the youth movement say that they "can't do it alone" and they are asking adults to walk out of work to protest with them.

Places joining the global strike in our region:

  • Carlisle, Cumbria

  • Kirkcudbright, Dumfries and Galloway

  • Kendal, Cumbria

  • Duns, Scottish Borders

  • Peebles, Scottish Borders

  • Keswick, Cumbria

  • Cockermouth, Cumbria

  • Ulverstron, Cumbria

  • Penrith, Cumbria

Experts say that much steeper measures are needed across the globe to prevent temperature rises of more than 1.5C (2.7F) or 2C (3.6F) to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.

As if to underline the urgency of the issues, the mercury is set to hit 26C (78.8F) this weekend – 8C(46.4F) above average for the time of year.

Politicians and big name celebrities such as Mick Jagger have expressed their support for the movement, saying that we "need to do everything we can to protect our planet and humanity".