Earth is in desperate need of our help.

Climate change is one of the biggest problems facing the world and it isn’t being addressed quickly enough. We have been given 12 years to drastically reduce emissions, lest our world warm to the point where humans face an existential threat. Thus, our group, Raise Climate Emergency, would like to advocate and raise awareness about the significance of this issue.

Wherever we live on the planet, climate change is a significant challenge for all of us. No one will be immune to its consequences, and some will be harmed considerably more severe than others, despite having minimal contributions to the situation. As a result, because climate change is a global issue, it is particularly critical that governments collaborate at the national level to devise a comprehensive response to the problem. This entails reaching out to various government departments to ensure that they are working together, particularly on the critical subject of incorporating adaptation into national planning. Declaring a climate emergency would be beneficial to one’s country or municipality, this would demonstrate a concrete commitment, a willingness to stand together and fight to prevent the largest threat of our time.

According to Oxford Dictionaries, climate emergency can be defined as “a situation in which urgent action is required to reduce or halt climate change and avoid potentially irreversible environmental damage resulting from it”. Climate change is not a future problem as we are currently facing a climate catastrophe. Climate change has already warmed the planet one degree and makes droughts like our current one longer and hotter. This includes worsening risks of drought, floods, extreme heat, and poverty for hundreds and millions of people.

Global warming is a serious and pressing problem. We should begin taking steps now, even if this involves significant cost. If we let global warming go beyond 1.5°C, coral reefs will be completely eradicated, populations of insects that pollinate plants will be decimated, and ice-free summers in the arctic will be commonplace.

Humans have already caused irreversible climate change, the impacts of which are being felt around the world— but it’s not too late. The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report says that limiting Global Warming to 1.5°C may still be possible, but it requires ambitious action from national and sub-national authorities, civil society, the private sector, and local communities. Humankind is at crossroads. We must act urgently, starting by considering to declare a national climate emergency. Now is the time to prioritize, implement, and fund it.

Climate change is the biggest issue of our time, and it must be a part of our education if our generation is to understand it and help us to combat its effects. That’s why we want climate change to be made a core part of the national curriculum. We don’t want to be left with flooding, wars, famine, and climate breakdown just because our governments value economic growth over the wellbeing of our planet. We want change.

We’ve barely learned about the climate crisis at schools. If young people like us are going to have any kind of future, learning about the climate emergency must be a central, core part of our compulsory curriculum. We strongly value our education, and that’s why we desperately need you to help us make a change in the way things are run. Now, we are deeply afraid that the government is more influenced by large polluting companies and by short term financial gain, than by the virtually unanimous advice of scientists who advise that we must act now to mitigate climate destruction. 

We also want schools across the country to be run sustainably, if possible, and for this to be a part of school inspections. That way, we will learn about the climate crisis and be part of an institution that is setting an example to us by being run in a sustainable way.

In order to avert climate disaster, we are requesting to consider:
1. Declaring a ‘Climate Emergency’.
2. Halt fossil fuel expansion and fossil fuel subsidies by the end of the year and begin to support the roll-out of clean renewable energy technologies immediately.
3. Ensure current and future policies are consistent with averting climate change and preventing ecological collapse.
4. Support the rapidly emerging climate action plans and resilience initiatives throughout the country.
5. Reduce carbon emissions to net zero no later than 2030.
6. Last, but not the least, include the topic/issue of climate change in our curriculum.

Please sign our petition to save us from a climate crisis before it’s too late. Take our futures seriously and treat climate change for what it is— a crisis.