So proud of my 12yo godson Peter Reid’s @IrishTimes piece on school climate strike & why we all need to take immediate action on this. He’s a pupil at St Catherine’s, Donore Avenue.
Go Peter!! https://t.co/YOgZxYssKv
— Alison O'Connor (@alisonoconn) March 6, 2019
By Peter Reid – 12-years old
The story I hear is that it’s a big issue but we don’t have to do anything about it right now. I feel pretty bad about that message. If we keep going like this the world will only last for another hundred years or so, which really isn’t long enough.
I think adults switch off when they hear about climate change. A lot of the time it’s because they’re scared of it or they just don’t care. I’m a tiny bit scared of it. But if we do something about it there’s no need to be scared.
If someone tells me children should learn to follow rules I’d say the children won’t be around to follow the rules if they don’t do something about climate change.
My teacher is very good at talking about climate change. She’s very supportive about helping the children do something about it. She does a lot of what she calls rants. I find they’re actually quite interesting. Once she ranted for 45 minutes about the Great Barrier Reef. She told us people were going to it to say goodbye to it. Humans care about the animals we share the planet with, but not enough, not nearly enough.
That makes me a bit sad but I still have a sense of energy and hope.
I’ve stopped eating meat but I eat fish. I try not to buy plastic and anything with palm oil
I’m not sure whether striking from school is completely allowed but I think it’s important to do something because if we all do a little thing then the world will get a bit better. Some people my age understand that.
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They understand that climate change is bad. But there’s no point in just being scared of climate change. People don’t want it to come but they’re not doing anything to stop it coming.
Changing things will make life a bit less easy but there are other options. You would have to cut down on meat. Because that’s one of the main problems. You can get an electric or hybrid car and that would fix a lot and you can get renewable energy for heating your house.
I’ve stopped eating meat but I eat fish. I try not to buy plastic and anything with palm oil. I try not to get my parents to drive me everywhere. If I can walk there I’ll walk there.
The school strike is definitely important. It’s one of the main things that children can do for climate change. I’m not entirely sure it has an effect but I’m hoping it does. I’d tell the people in charge that children can make a difference too.
Even if it rains we’re still going. I’m going to try to come up with something catchy and a bit funny for a poster. I find if it’s funny it sticks more. It can’t be too funny or else people don’t take it seriously but it can’t be too serious.
It’s time to start telling people the bad news but also tell them that they can stop climate change by cutting down on their carbon emissions.
