Student Strike 4 Climate: Justice, emergency and citizenship

Abstract

In the past 12 months, young people have been flexing their political might through the Student Strike 4 Climate (SS4C) movement. Inspired by the articulate and determined Swedish teenager, Greta Thunberg and direct action by striking Australian school children in late 2018, on March 15, 2019 there were actions in over 1,700 cities involving 1.4 million people (Carrington, 2019a). The strikers issued a set of demands, largely targeted at their governments. In Aotearoa New Zealand, these demands included a comprehensive Zero Carbon Act, that local governments start acknowledging and planning for climate change now, and that all adaptation and mitigation is rooted in Te Tiriti and social and intergenerational justice