Hundreds of students swept the streets of Tauranga. Photo / Caroline Fleming
Hundreds of students swept the streets of Tauranga. Photo / Caroline Fleming
More than 400 children across the city gathered yesterday to make their voices heard in the strike over climate change.
Loud chants echoed throughout the central streets of Mount Maunganui and Tauranga, as passionate students and pupils as young as 5 striked for their future.
"Stop denying the Earth is dying" and "keep the coal in the hole" were just two of the many phrases plastered across placards and banners shook by the crowd.
The strike was not just for the children though - local teachers, elderly and loads of parents were seen holding signs and getting involved in the action.
The event at Red Square in the Tauranga CBD had a large array of speakers, such as Labour list MP Jan Tinetti, Envirohub's Liesel Carnie and waste-advocate Leo Murray, as well as local students.
The presentations ranged from talking about waste management, rising sea levels, air pollution and recycling, with some students even bringing fresh ideas for the future to the table.
Malia McGuire, 10, had a special costume made for the strike. Photo / Caroline Fleming
A young girl from Mexico stood up from the audience and highlighted how lucky New Zealand is to have clean waterways and air without heavy pollution.
She said we still have time to act, but we must do it quickly.
Tokoroa teacher Goran Surucic, who lives in Tauranga, held a large sign stating: "I am a high school teacher and this is the most professional development course I've ever attended".
Otumoetai College head girl and youth MP for the Bay of Plenty, Makayla Wadsworth, said the issue was huge and something that many people did not seem to understand the implications of.
She said it was important for the younger generations to get involved to show they wanted action now.
One hundred and fifty Year 9 and 10 students, who could not be at the strike, wrote postcards with their messages pushing for action on climate change that the head prefects delivered to the mayor of Tauranga's office.
Over in the Mount, student speakers took the stage.
Seventeen-year-old Zoe de Malmanche of Mount Maunganui College spoke passionately about the environment and how important it was for young people to not be afraid to be weird, because she said it was the weird people who could make the biggest changes.
Te Puke High School students Joshua Lord-Bark, 15, Kelly Curtin, 15, and Ngatuputupu Orgais, 15. Photo / Andrew Warner
Bay of Plenty MP Todd Muller would have had a full inbox by the end of the strike, as every person there was encouraged to contact him and push for change.
Yesterday afternoon the Government said it was working on the final details of the climate change legislation that aimed to make New Zealand carbon zero by 2050.
"This is ground-breaking legislation. No New Zealand Government has ever had to pass a law that over a 30-year timeframe seeks to stop climate pollution entering the atmosphere," Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said in a statement.
"It's technical and difficult legislation we are working hard to finalise. Once we lock down the remaining details we will be in a position to announce the timeframe for the Bill's introduction. I'm very keen to see it finalised and completed by the end of this year.
