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Climate strike in Diss and Eye




Children and parents will take to the streets of Diss and Eye today as the towns stage their first climate strikes.

The school climate strikes were started a year ago in Sweden by schoolgirl Greta Thunberg, who began to strike every Friday to draw attention to the lack of action being taken to tackle climate change.

Within a year, Greta’s protests had turned into the global Fridays for Future movement, with millions of young people taking part.

School strike. Picture by Keith Heppell.
School strike. Picture by Keith Heppell.

Ten-year-old Mae-Li Sun and her mum Jo Clifford, from Mill Street, Gislingham, decided to organise the event in Eye to raise awareness of the climate crisis.

“I had heard about Greta Thunberg and I thought what she was doing was great,” said Mae-Li, who attends St Botolphs Primary School in Botesdale.

“I was a bit worried about missing school, but I was more worried about the future of our planet.

“I met other young people at a strike in Ipswich and we became friends. For the global strike day today, we decided to do something in our own communities.”

The UK government has pledged to cut carbon emissions to net zero by 2050, however, youth climate activists and most scientists say that this will be too little, too late.

“I hope the Government and world leaders listen to us this time, so that all the people, plants and animals have a healthy planet to live on in the future,” said Mae-Li.

Earlier this month, a statement from a clutch of world scientists warned that we risk “untold suffering” unless there are radical changes to society.

“The climate crisis has arrived and is accelerating faster than most scientists expected,” said the group in a statement published in the journal BioScience.

“It is more severe than anticipated, threatening natural ecosystems and the fate of humanity.”

READ MORE: Woman, 95, starts green revolution in her village

The strike in Eye will take place outside the town hall in Broad Street, from 1pm to 3pm. The Diss strike will take place at Mere’s Mouth, from 10am to noon.



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