'Declare climate emergency', students to march to PMO

New Delhi : School students from 70 cities across the country are joining Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg's call for mass protests to sound the alarm on climate change with activities such as climbing atop a garbage dump at Bhalaswa landfill and marching to the Prime Minister's Office.

The week-long campaign, called "Strike on the streets", started on September 20 and will culminate with a march to the PMO on September 27, demanding that PM Narendra Modi declares climate emergency.

On Sunday, the students went to the Bhalswa landfill here to do a "symbolic mountain climbing" on a garbage dump which they termed a "dry tomb".

Aman Sharma, a Class 11 student in Delhi, has launched an online petition demanding that the Indian government declare a climate emergency. The petition has got over 4.5 lakh supporters.

"I believe that the State Action Plan on Climate Change should be sub-divided at city level. Training and sensitisation of all decision-makers in the climate emergency and how it needs to be tackled.

There should be full and proper environmental aassessment of transport projects that are expensive and usually not even affordable to the average citizen," Sharma said.

"We need to really stop concretising cities. This contributes to global climate breakdown, exacerbates climate vulnerabilities at the local level.

Development, population pressure and migration are proclaimed as the reasons given but actually most construction caters to the rich and it's the builders who benefit," said Neeraj Kumar, a student from Bihar's Lakhisarai.

Kriti Kekar, a student of Heritage School here, said, "The government should stop funding to any project that fails to look at climate crisis.

More construction is not equal to more development. There is a need to urgently review the city development plans that have already been funded and prioritise projects that address climate emergencies like floods, water shortage, heat effect."

US President Donald Trump have taken a swipe at the Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, tweeting a video of the visibly emotional 16-year-old, saying sarcastically that she seems to be "very happy" and looking forward to a bright future.

"She seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future. So nice to see! tweeted the US president late on Monday night.

In the stinging speech on Monday at the United Nations Climate Action Summit, Thunberg said, "You are still not mature enough to tell it like it is. You are failing us. But the young people are starting to understand your betrayal.

"You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words," she said.

In 2018, Greta Thunberg, a teen climate activist, sat for three weeks outside the Swedish Parliament to protest against a lack of measures to combat climate change.

She then started the tradition of holding a strike on every Friday till something was done; soon, students around the world began to follow suit and hold protests in front of their Parliament, hoping this would make their voices heard.

Thunberg delivered an emotional and scathing speech at the United Nations on Monday, accusing world leaders of stealing her dreams and her childhood with their inaction on climate change.