Geraldton students march in another School Strike 4 Climate protest

“Climate, not profit!” “Scomo, get off it!” These were some of the battle cries coming from Geraldton students, who gathered for the fourth School Strike 4 Climate protest on Friday. They were rallying for the campaign’s three core demands — no new coal, oil or gas projects, 100 per cent renewable energy by 2030 and job transition for fossil fuel workers and families. Starting at Stow Gardens, dozens marched along the foreshore with their colourful and eye-catching signs to raise awareness of the Government’s lack of action to meet emission reduction pledges. Tabitha Murdoch, 16, is a director of the Geraldton SS4C and says the Federal Government has quite a way to come before meeting its goal of 100 per cent renewable energy by 2030. She said it was important to listen to the youth, because they would be in power some day soon. “They won’t be in power forever, but we will be soon. They can either wait until it’s beyond the point of helping or help now and guarantee their children a better future,” Tabitha said. Tabitha said she did not believe the world could sustain a fossil fuel-based economy and way of life and at this rate she did not see hope for the future. “It will run out, there’s no way of continuing it on for the next 20 years. I try not to think about what it would look like in 20 years time because at this rate, we will be up in flames,” she said. Mia Abbott, 15, said it was good to see the youth were getting involved in strike action because the younger generation had a lot to say. “It means a lot to me seeing all these people my age standing for all the things I believe in, growing up it’s always been a worry and there was always this state of anxiety of, ‘I don’t know how my future is going to look’,” she said. “We really hope to make our point, get seen and hopefully get some Government action. “We want to feel safe in our own environment, the Government needs to know it’s really not enough.”