Thousands of mostly young people took
part in marches in many Italian cities on Friday as part of the
Global Climate Strike demanding that world leaders address the
environmental crisis.
There were big demonstrations in Rome, Milan, Florence, Naples,
Bari and elsewhere, with protestors calling on governments to
focus on 'people not profit'.
The marches were full of colour, singing and dancing.
One activist used make-up to turn her body into a depiction of
the Earth.
Some Extinction Rebellion (XR) activists dressed up in
old-fashioned diving suits to highlight the problem of rising
sea levels.
"We are here to protest about the inaction that the government
displays with regard to the climate crisis," Rome University
student and XR activist Giorgio Speranza told ANSA at the march
in the capital.
"If I could speak to the world's leaders, I'd tell them that
seeking economic growth is useless if, in 30 years' time, there
is no longer any means to obtain this economic growth.
"The climate crisis is much more dangerous than the politicians
seem to notice".
Many of the banners were hilarious.
"The Wrong Amazon is Burning," read one.
"Tony Stark did not die so that we could destroy the planet,"
said another.
"I'm sure the dinosaurs thought they had time too," was also
among the picks of the day.
Another pointed out that "we can't recycle wasted time".
"If you burn down our future, we'll burn down the city," chanted
one group of students.
"It's almost useless to spend my day at school in education to
work for a future when there might not be a future at all,"
Luisa Tousova, a Czech high school student who lives in Rome,
told ANSA.
"Climate change is an ongoing issue that needs to be addressed
and the governments are failing to address it.
"Unfortunately, it has come down to the young generation to try
to do something about it.
"There is a tendency to prioritize economic issues and profit,
rather than measures that would lead to positive change.
"There's a failure to focus on the largest producers of carbon,
large corporations and large industries, with the idea that
individuals can cause complete change through their actions,
rather than taxing the wealthy, taxing carbon to actually target
the largest polluters and the corporations behind climate
change".
Gianni Silvestrini, the scientific director of the Kyoto Club
climate network, said the "barbarous attack on Ukraine" by
Russia made Friday's marches even more significant.
"The reduction of the reliance on fossil fuels with renewables
has a double value on our continent," Silvestrini said, calling
for the streamlining of regulatory frameworks to make it easier
to approve renewable-energy plants.
"Clean energies do not just make a positive contribution towards
accelerating the ecological transition, they also have an impact
on the importation of gas from Russia".
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