New York schoolchildren will not have to worry about trouble with the school board next Friday if they stay away from teaching for the big climate change demonstration. The school board, responsible for more than 1700 public schools in the East Coast metropolis, tweeted Thursday that it "will apologize for the absence of students striking for the climate on 20 September."
@ NYCschools wants excuse absences of students participating in the #ClimateStrike on Friday 9/20. Students want need parental consent. Younger students can only leave school with a parent. https://t.co/hcBO1Cnb3m
- NYC Public Schools (@NYCSchools) September 12, 2019New York Mayor Bill de Blasio also backed the action. "New York City is on the side of the young people, they are our conscience, we support the climate strike on 20 September," the Democrat told Twitter.
We have ten years to save the planet.
TEN YEARS.
Today's leaders are making decisions.
New York City stands with our young people. They're our conscience. We support the 9/20 #ClimateStrike.
The New York demo for more climate protection will be led by the Swedish activist Greta Thunberg. The rally will take place ahead of the UN climate summit, which begins in New York on September 23. The 16-year-old arrived in New York at the end of August and since then has participated in a series of actions and meetings. For reasons of climate protection, she traveled across the Atlantic with a sailing yacht.
This Friday, Greta Thunberg wants to attend a protest in front of the White House in Washington. She accuses US President Donald Trump of ignoring scientific findings on global warming. In 2017, Trump declared US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement for more global climate protection.
Greta Thunberg is not as well known in the US as in Europe. Protest actions such as the weekly school strikes have so far been much smaller in US cities than in many European cities.
On the 20th of September, the third global climate strike, numerous people are taking to the streets again in Germany. According to Fridays for Future, demonstrations are planned in more than 350 cities. More than a thousand companies and alliances have already expressed their support in advance.
However, it is unlikely that students will receive support for the protests here: unlike in New York, German school ministries, district governments and rectors have repeatedly pointed to compulsory school attendance in recent months and threatened with consequences such as fines and entries in the class register.