Hundreds of Dunedin pupils are expected to trade pens for placards and strike for the future of the environment on Friday.
Young climate activists from many Dunedin schools, accompanied by supporters of all ages, will gather in the Octagon to join the global School Strike for Climate movement.
They will march from the school and gather supportive university students along the way before continuing down George St to the Octagon.
Others are encouraged to join there from noon.
There will be musical performers, speeches, poetry and a climate-action letter to Parliament to sign.
Logan Park pupil Linea Simons said it was frustrating many people did not know the extent of the crisis.
''So we want to make sure people know that it's something we need to be taking seriously now.''
Fellow pupil Abe Baillie said their interest in starting a Dunedin protest came after becoming ''increasingly frustrated with Government inaction on climate change''.
''No-one's really trying to keep global warming below 1.5degC.''
The protest had to be on a school day to get the message heard, otherwise it would just be a ''media blip''.
''It's not like a little niche-hobby-club extravaganza day, it's the world is collapsing.''
Pupil Zak Rudin said they wanted to push Government into action, which included moving away from fossil fuels and agriculture more quickly.
Logan Park co-principal Kristan Mouat said the school supported the pupils as student leadership was a focus for the school.
''Sometimes young people get a bad reputation for being apathetic or being on their screens all the time, but that's not our experience.
''Our experience is our young people are passionate about bringing change and making the world a better place.''
Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull has openly supported the pupils, saying on social media it was young people who had the most to lose from climate change and so must be heard.
Related Stories
Comments
Sounds like a great excuse to have the day off school....I guess this march simply couldn't wait until Saturday.
A sad day for education in NZ.
Schooling is for education not indoctrination.
Every time political ideology has been promoted and supported by political parties on childen via the education system, the outcome has been very bad for the society indoctrinated.
Have no doubt about it. The 'solutions' they voice to the 'problem' is EXTREME Left Wing.
Last time this thinking took hold, it spewed communism and fascism and the death of hundrieds of millions of people.
Then again, many claim the real issue is over population so maybe that is just what they want.
There has never been a time in the history of the world where we have had to deal with an issue as important as climate change. But internationally politics are driven by short term profits and the meat, diary, and petrochemical industries account for such massive global investment.
The tobacco industry has fought for years to deny that smoking causes cancer. The meat, diary, and petrochemical industries are now using the same tactics to discredit the science that the tobacco industry has used.
It is fantastic to see school children focusing on this issue. They are the ones whose future will be destroyed if serious change in government policy does not happen immediately.
Talking about reducing global warming whilst trying to grow New Zealand’s diary and meat industry is incongruous. Trying to dismiss this thinking as left wing radical is sheer ignorance.
Power to the children. May the politicians listen and think about what this protest is all about.