Published: 3 September 2019
Last updated: 4 March 2024
Students, and even some teachers, donned home-made placards and banners to partake in the protest. Student organisers as young as 14 carried loudspeakers, directing the crowd through stages of the protest which included speeches, lie-ins, and chanting, demanding the government to recognise climate change as an urgent issue for the safety of Israel and the world.
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Slogans such as “If the world has no future, why should I be a student?” and “Our future is in your hands and you do nothing”, represent the frustrations of the younger generations with a government that simultaneously demands they partake in education - a foundation of future planning - whilr ignoring action to secure the stability of such a future.
This sense of the futility of education has been felt the world over, including by the likes of climate activist, Greta Thunburg. The Swedish student instigated — and then became the face of — the student walk-out movement, after sitting outside of her parliament during school hours for over three weeks in the lead up to the Swedish general election in 2018. She is currently in New York for the UN Climate Action Summit, where she arrived by carbon-neutral yacht.
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Unrest over environmental inaction comes in the lead-up to Knesset elections on September 17, where climate change is glaringly absent from most political discourse. Unlike in Australia, where party climate policy is one of the foremost voting considerations of many Australians, MK Stav Shaffir of the Democratic Union party is the first of any Israeli party to present a climate action plan.
Shaffir’s “Green economy program” unveiled just last week, details a 12-year guide of an estimated NIS 290 (A$122) billion investment in cleaner cities. Plans include movement away from personal and towards public transportation, implementation of green energy technology, and a decrease in meat consumption.
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These strategies aim to reduce overall carbon emissions, which are known to increase heat retention within the atmosphere, thereby creating global warming.
With 67.1kg of carbon dioxide generated per person, Israel has the world’s largest per-capita poultry-related carbon footprint, based on data from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations. This, despite Israel also having the highest percentage of vegans in the world (mostly concentrated in Tel Aviv).
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A climate plan that encourages a more plant-based diet, then, would be particularly helpful for overall reduction of the country’s carbon footprint. Such a shift in diet has become part of the global discussion on climate action, with a plant-based diet being lauded as one of the most effective ways for individuals to independently cut their carbon footprint.
The student Strike for Future protest comes in the lead up to the global climate strike from September 20-27, when it is expected that millions of people in cities across the world will strike for an end to reliance on fossil fuels, and a shift to cleaner energy.
Main photo: Student protester at HaBima Square in Tel Aviv (Shani Ashkenazi/Globe)'
All other photos: Daniella Silverstein
