周五，全球数百万年轻人在各自城市的街道上游行，抗议气候变化。从澳大利亚到肯尼亚再到美国，害怕未来可持续性的年轻人正在逃学，支持集会，要求采取措施防止气候灾难。
游行组织者说将有156个国家参加。
纽约市的110万名公立学校学生获得了官方许可，可以当天逃课，尽管他们确实需要家长的同意。“纽约市与我们的年轻人站在一起。他们是我们的良心，”比尔·白思豪市长发推说。
然而，其他领导人却不这么理解。澳大利亚代理总理迈克尔·麦科马克(他实际上是副总理，但正在华盛顿特区会见唐纳德·特朗普总统时代替斯科特·莫里森总理)称抗议活动为“扰乱”，并建议学生们如果今天上学，将学到更多东西。
全球游行就在纽约联合国召开为期一周的气候变化会议之前，会议将包括本周六的青年气候峰会和周一的联合国气候行动峰会。
这在很大程度上是由16岁的瑞典气候活动家格蕾塔·纽伦堡推动的，尽管没有组织起来。纽伦堡通过太阳能船来到美国，并将参加下周的游行和会议。本周，她就气候变化的影响向国会作证。
“我不想你听我说，”她说。“我想让你听听科学家们的意见。”她的话持续了不到一分钟，直截了当，充满激情。
纽伦堡计划她的发言简短，因为她说她希望重点放在她作为证据提交的联合国政府间气候变化专门委员会的报告上。“然后我希望你采取真正的行动，”她总结道。当天晚些时候，她会见了前总统巴拉克·奥巴马。
但是不管采取什么立场，看到如此大规模的有凝聚力的运动主要由18岁以下的人来协调是罕见的，也是令人印象深刻的。但大多数成为这些抗议目标的高管和政治家尚未采取戏剧性的行动。
联合国去年发布的一份报告得出结论，世界只有12年(现在是11年)来限制气候变化灾难。大会主席玛丽亚·费尔南德斯·埃斯皮诺萨·加西亚今年3月警告联合国，“我们是能够防止对我们星球造成不可挽回的损害的最后一代”。
由13个联邦机构去年发布的美国气候报告也发现，如果不采取重大措施防止气候变化，美国将在本世纪末失去10%的经济实力，并对其环境造成不可逆转的破坏。
唐纳德·特朗普总统质疑这两份报告，并经常在推特上取笑暴风雪期间的气候变化概念。过去，他曾暗示气候变化是中国人发明的骗局。
MILLIONS PROTEST CLIMATE CHANGE: THERE'S NO PLAN(ET) B
On Friday, millions of young people around the globe are marching in the streets of their respective cities in a climate change protest. From Australia to Kenya to the U.S., youth afraid of the sustainability of the future are skipping school and work in favor of gathering to demand that something be done to prevent climate catastrophe.
Organizers of the marches have said that there will be 156 countries participating.
New York City's 1.1 million public school students were given official permission to skip out on classes for the day, though they do need parental consent to do so. "New York City stands with our young people. They're our conscience," tweeted Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Other leaders, however, are not so understanding. Australia's acting prime minister Michael McCormack (who is actually the deputy prime minister, but is filling in for PM Scott Morrison while he is in Washington D.C. to meet with President Donald Trump) called the protests a "disruption" and suggested that students would learn more if they attended school today.
The global march comes just before a week of climate change meetings at the United Nations in New York City, which will include the Youth Climate Summit this Saturday and the U.N. Climate Action Summit on Monday.
It is largely spurred on, though not organized, by 16 year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg. Thunberg came to the U.S. by way of solar-powered boat and will attend the marches and meetings next week. This week, she testified to Congress about the impact of climate change.
"I don't want you to listen to me," she said. "I want you to listen to the scientists." Her remarks, which lasted less than a minute, were put bluntly and passionately.
Thunberg planned her remarks to be short because she said she wanted the focus to be on the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report she had submitted as evidence. "And then I want you to take real action," she concluded. Later in the day she met with former President Barack Obama.
But no matter the stance, it's rare and rather impressive to see such a large and cohesive movement coordinated largely by those under the age of 18. But most executives and politicians who are the target of these protests have yet to be moved into taking dramatic action.
A report issued by the United Nations last year concluded that the world had just 12 years (now 11) to limit climate change catastrophe. "We are the last generation that can prevent irreparable damage to our planet," General Assembly President María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés warned the United Nations in March.
A U.S. climate report issued by issued by 13 federal agencies last year also found that if significant steps weren't taken to prevent climate change, the U.S. would lose 10 percent of its economic power by the end of the century and sustain irreversible damage to its environment.
President Donald Trump has questioned both of the reports and regularly makes fun of the concept of climate change on Twitter during snow storms. In the past he has suggested that climate change is a hoax invented by the Chinese.
