Written by: Edward Lai Ka-chun (Senior Communications Officer)
On 15 March, thousands of students from New Zealand, Australia, India, Thailand, and Hong Kong skipped school and took to the streets to protest against the collective inaction of governments and other world leaders on alleviating global warming. The wave of ongoing protests against climate change has spread across the globe since last Autumn. In an interview with foreign media in February, a French student who boycotted school said, “Why study for a future, which may not be there?”
This is somewhat true. In recent years, the United Nations has issued multiple warnings on the imminent threat of climate change: If the countries do not collaborate and adopt comprehensive policies to stop temperature rises, based on the current volume of greenhouse gas emissions, global temperatures will increase by 1.5°C by 2030. Once we reach the tipping point of a 2°C rise, the world will be plunged into an eco-catastrophe and our offspring will bear the consequences of their ancestors’ poor behaviours.