The youth are taking climate change by storm. Since Greta Thunberg, a 16-year-old Climate activist from Sweden, has skipped school every Friday and sat outside the Swedish parliament, adults have voiced their opinions about her, but not the issue of climate change.

Greta has now been nominated for a Nobel peace prize and has motivated hundreds of thousands of students to follow in her footsteps. This is not just impressive because of her young age and dedication, but also because of her Asperger syndrome.

Climate change is an issue rarely talked about, especially in an educational setting. Greta has become the face of the #fridaysforfuture campaign, a movement where students are trying to get politicians to act on the ever-growing concern of climate change.

She started her own demonstration in August 2018, where she would miss school almost every Friday, as there is no point in going to school if there will not be any use for it in a burnt out world. The movement has grown to such an extent that each #fridaysforfuture demonstration has police approval and major news agencies as well as social media platforms have been reporting about the demonstrations and therefore also the issue a lot, bringing awareness to the fact that our actions need to change. On Friday the 15th of March, protests were held in over 100 countries on every continent.

I myself decided to skip school to join the demonstration. I am an IB student, less than 2 months away from her final exams, therefore know how important school is, especially at this moment in my life. However, climate change is something that is more important. I find it ironic that politicians do not listen to the educated about this subject, but want children to be educated. Many adults seem to think that these protests do not make a difference, but the crowd that assembled on Friday was determined for change, as that is our only option. If you do not believe me, see for yourself, perhaps some more politicians should do the same.