Over one thousand local schoolchildren, residents, and others protested through the streets of Cambridge today calling for action on the climate crisis, as part of the Global Strike for Climate.
Protesters carried signs and chanted as they walked from Shire Hall through the city centre toward King’s Parade on Trumpington Street. Outside King’s College Chapel, protesters held a ‘die in’ and let off buzzers to “sound the alarm” on a climate crisis.
Earlier this week, Cambridge informed staff that they would be welcome to participate in a 30 minute workday stoppage in solidarity with the protest, and that they could ask for longer breaks if doing so would not interfere with their “day-to-day responsibilities”.
Emily Shuckburgh, the newly-appointed Director of Cambridge’s Carbon Neutral Futures Initiative, spoke at the protest, calling for “everyone to step up, take responsibility, to work together and to act together: citizens of all ages, communities, academic institutions, businesses, and above all, governments”.
This morning, Cambridge vice-chancellor Stephen Toope also published a blog post in support of the global strike, writing: “Here in Cambridge, and with the University’s full support, students and members of staff will be among the demonstrators urging policy-makers to heed the advice of the scientific community.”
University of Cambridge's administration has come under prolonged criticism for its executive governing body, University Council, deciding against divesting its endowment from fossil fuel companies back in June 2018. Following that decision, Cambridge announced it would be commissioning a new report on the question of divestment in April of this year.
The international strike, led by climate activist Greta Thunberg, saw protests in cities across the globe on Friday amounting to several million participants, according to The Guardian.
The strike kicks off a week of action on climate change, running from 20th September to 27th September.
