Ed,

It was striking and gratifying to be part of a group of locals with posters at Grafton’s school students’ strike on Friday to realise that close to 300,000 from our babies to our elders in their nineties had participated in almost 100 students’ strikes Australia-wide. The numbers were double those attending the last strike in March and these numbers were swelled by the participation of 2000 unions and businesses. You can only imagine how many school students and their supporters participated globally in the 6000 strikes in 169 other countries.

Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd stated that our climate emergency is: “The greatest moral challenge of our times.” and I think of a phrase he used in a recent newspaper article: “Apathy, indifference and self-satisfaction” and wonder whether he is referring to our recently elected miraculous government and Prime Minister who decided not to attend the United Nations global conference on our climate emergency which is about to start.

It really Get’s Up my nose that our COAL-ition government is so unimpressive compared with Grafton’s passionate,  articulate and striking school students.They are so impressive and they will soon be voting.

But they will not be voting for a government of apathy and indifference about our climate emergency that appears to be saying to our children and grandchildren still too young to vote: “This is your world, you can have the ruins.” 

And today, well before the normal bushfire season, bushfires continues to put the heat on increasing numbers of beautiful properties, what a shame the world has so few years for our striking children to turn around our climate emergency.

So well done you young climate warriors. And when apathy, indifference and self-satisfaction are replaced by more worthy ambitions, ever more adults of every generation will join you at your next climate emergency strike to double the numbers and double them again until your government takes action on your climate emergency.

Harry Johnson, Iluka