Formation | February 2019 |
---|---|
Type | Advocacy group |
Purpose | Climate change mitigation Nature conservation Environmental protection |
Region | Bristol, United Kingdom |
Fields | Climate justice Environmental movement |
Affiliations | Fridays For Future |
Website | bristolys4c |
Bristol Youth Strike 4 Climate (abbreviated as BYS4C) is an environmental advocacy group that was established in February 2019. [1] in response to the international Fridays for Future and Youth Strike 4 Climate movements. [2] Run by a team of student volunteers [3] aged 14 to 24, [4] the group have organised 10 climate strikes as of September 2020, calling for climate justice and drawing attention to the climate and ecological crisis.
BYS4C's website, as of December 2020, states the following demands: [5]
In April 2019, the group started a campaign against the proposed Bristol Airport expansion [6] which continued until the airport's planning permission was declined by North Somerset Council in February 2020. [7] [8] [9]
On 20 September 2019, BYS4C took part in the Global Strike 4 Climate [10] [11] [12] [13] which was the biggest ever worldwide climate protest. The event reportedly drew crowds of 15,000 with 4 million protestors taking to the streets globally. [14]
On 28 February 2020, the group became the only UK-based climate strike group to host Greta Thunberg. [15] [16] [17] The protest was organised in just under a week due to short notice, with an estimated 30,000 people [18] joining the group to call for climate action. [19] Despite the limited organisation time and public concern over safety, [20] [21] [22] the event proceeded without any major incidents and organisers were praised by both the authorities and Greta Thunberg's team for their ability to host such a large event with minimal resources. [23] The protest resulted in some controversy as College Green, the location of the protest, became very muddy due to the high footfall and wet weather conditions. [24] However, despite claims that Bristol City Council would have to pay to replace the grass and a GoFundMe page started to cover these costs, [25] the grass regrew within a week with no intervention. [26]
College Green is a public open space in Bristol, England. The Green takes the form of a segment of a circle with its apex pointing east, and covers 1.1 hectares. The road named College Green forms the north-eastern boundary of the Green, Bristol Cathedral marks the south side, and City Hall closes the Green in an arc to the north-west.
Climate change has resulted in an increase in temperature of 2.3 °C (2022) in Europe compared to pre-industrial levels. Europe is the fastest warming continent in the world. Europe's climate is getting warmer due to anthropogenic activity. According to international climate experts, global temperature rise should not exceed 2 °C to prevent the most dangerous consequences of climate change; without reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, this could happen before 2050. Climate change has implications for all regions of Europe, with the extent and nature of impacts varying across the continent.
The climate movement is a global social movement focused on pressuring governments and industry to take action addressing the causes and impacts of climate change. Environmental non-profit organizations have engaged in significant climate activism since the late 1980s and early 1990s, as they sought to influence the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Climate activism has become increasingly prominent over time, gaining significant momentum during the 2009 Copenhagen Summit and particularly following the signing of the Paris Agreement in 2016.
Greta Tintin Eleonora Ernman Thunberg is a Swedish environmental activist known for challenging world leaders to take immediate action for climate change mitigation.
The September 2019 climate strikes, also known as the Global Week for Future, were a series of international strikes and protests to demand action be taken to address climate change, which took place from 20 to 27 September 2019. The strikes' key dates were 20 September, which was three days before the United Nations Climate Summit, and 27 September. The protests took place across 4,500 locations in 150 countries. The event stemmed from the Fridays for Future school strike for climate movement, inspired by Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg. The Guardian reported that roughly 6 million people participated in the events, whilst 350.org – a group that organised many of the protests – claim that 7.6 million people participated.
School Strike for Climate, also known variously as Fridays for Future (FFF), Youth for Climate, Climate Strike or Youth Strike for Climate, is an international movement of school students who skip Friday classes to participate in demonstrations to demand action from political leaders to prevent climate change and for the fossil fuel industry to transition to renewable energy.
Earth Strike is an international grassroots movement that called for a global general strike for climate action. Their aim was a global general strike lasting from 20 until 27 September 2019. The movement has had public support from organizations including Extinction Rebellion and Fridays for Future, as well as public figures including Noam Chomsky. The Earth Strikes were part of the worldwide September 2019 climate strikes, which gathered millions of protesters.
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UK Student Climate Network (UKSCN) was a student-led climate justice organisation operating in England and Wales founded by Anna Taylor, then aged 17, on 1 December 2018, along with Ivi Hohmann and Daniela Torres Perez. It disbanded in 2020, with only a few members left who acted as caretakers for the organisation’s remaining funds, before finally dissolving in 2023.
Alexandria Villaseñor is an American climate activist living in New York. A follower of the Fridays for Future movement and of fellow climate activist Greta Thunberg, Villaseñor is a co-founder of U.S. Youth Climate Strike and the founder of Earth Uprising.
Climate activist Greta Thunberg made a double crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in 2019 to attend climate conferences in New York City and, until it was moved, Santiago, Chile. She sailed from Plymouth, UK, to New York, United States aboard the racing yacht Malizia II, returning from Hampton, Virginia, to Lisbon on the catamaran La Vagabonde. Thunberg refuses to fly because of the carbon emissions of the airline industry and the trip was announced as carbon neutral. As a racing sailboat, the Malizia II has no toilet, fixed shower, cooking facilities or proper beds.
The 2019 UN Climate Action Summit was held at the headquarters of the United Nations in New York City on 23 September 2019. The UN 2019 Climate Summit convened on the theme, "Climate Action Summit 2019: A Race We Can Win. A Race We Must Win." The goal of the summit was to further climate action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to prevent the mean global temperature from rising by more than 1.5 °C (2.7 °F) above preindustrial levels. Sixty countries were expected to "announce steps to reduce emissions and support populations most vulnerable to the climate crisis" including France, a number of other European countries, small island countries and India. To increase pressure on political and economic actors to achieve the aims of the summit, a global climate strike was held around the world on 20 September with over four million participants.
Ayakha Melithafa is a South African environmental activist.
Xiye Bastida Patrick is a Mexican climate activist and member of the Indigenous Otomi community. She is one of the major organizers of Fridays for Future New York City and has been a leading voice for indigenous and immigrant visibility in climate activism. She is on the administration committee of the People's Climate Movement and a former member of Sunrise Movement and Extinction Rebellion. She cofounded Re-Earth Initiative, an international nonprofit organization that is inclusive and intersectional “just as the climate movement should be.” Xiye is pronounced "she-yeh", [ʃi-jɛ], meaning not available.
Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has been noted for her skills as an orator. Her speech at the 2019 United Nations climate summit made her a household name. Prior to her speaking engagements, Thunberg had demonstrated outside the Swedish parliament, the Riksdag, using the signage Skolstrejk för klimatet.
Licypriya Kangujam is a child environmental activist from India. One of the youngest climate activists globally, she addressed world leaders at the 2019 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Madrid, Spain, asking them to take immediate climate action. Licypriya has been campaigning for climate action in India since 2018, to pass new laws to curb India's high pollution levels, and to make climate-change literacy mandatory in schools. She has been regarded as India's Greta Thunberg, though she does not like the usage of this term.
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