B1 Podcast series – Fridays for future

Damon: So Mike, today we’re going to talk about the Fridays for future movement, it’s been in the media a lot recently. I guess my first question for you is: what exactly is Fridays for future?

Mike: Yes, well, Fridays for future is a protest movement by students across the world. These students are taking Friday off school every week to join demonstrations demanding action from their government against climate change.

Damon: Ok, so students are actually going to their government buildings and saying: we want you to show us that you’re taking action to help the climate.

Mike: Yes, that’s exactly right. They have their cardboard signs and they are gathering in groups outside the government buildings and, like you say, demanding action on climate change from their governments.

Damon: Ok, but climate change I guess is quite a big topic, it covers a lot of different possibilities, what do we mean when we say: ‘climate change’?

Mike: Yes, we have to be careful when we use this term. In this case, ‘climate change’ refers to the current warming of the planet caused by the release of carbon into the atmosphere by the burning of fossil fuels. Fossil fuels include things like coal, gas, and oil. This global warming can have massive effects upon the planet including the melting of polar ice caps, rising sea levels, more severe storms, droughts for some areas, and flooding for others.

Damon: Ok, so there’s really a big range of effects and it depends where in the world you are, so some places are seeing more rain and experiencing flooding, other places, no rain and as a result they’re having droughts. Is that right?

Mike: Yep, that’s absolutely right and these effects are more and more severe, and as you say, depending on where you are you get the different effects.

Damon: Ok, so, coming back to the Fridays for future movement, how exactly did it get started?

Mike: Well, the first protester was a Swedish school girl named Greta Thunberg who took a Friday off school to stand in front of the Swedish parliament with a cardboard sign that said: ‘School strike for the climate’. The amazing thing is she was just fifteen at the time.

Damon: Ok, fifteen, that’s pretty young, and one single school girl but obviously it’s a movement now so there are a few more people joining her. How much bigger is the movement?

Mike: Much bigger. Students now are participating in Fridays for future all across the world. Most of the participants are from European, American, and Australian schools, but similar demonstrations are also taking place in Argentina, South Africa, and India.

Damon: Ok, so it’s had quite a large reach in that case. How have other people around the world reacted to the protests?

Mike: Well, Greta’s parents were very outspoken publically, they were proud of her and they supported her, other parents of the students who participate have done the same, they’ve supported their students in what they are doing.

Reaction hasn’t all been positive, governments in the United Kingdom and Australia have heavily criticised the demonstrations.

That said, the scientific community has been very supportive of the strikes as have several prominent political figures including the United Nations general secretary.

Greta, the first protester, was actually given an award by the charity Amnesty International for her actions in starting off this protest movement.

Damon: Ok. So it’s been mixed but generally positive, and we’ve said that the protestors are demanding action by their governments, but what exactly do the protestors want?

Mike: Well the thing is, it’s a global protest, this means that their demands might be slightly different depending on where the demonstration is taking place and who is taking part. A global strike in October 2018 did express three demands, that was: 100% clean energy, keeping fossil fuels in the ground, and supporting climate refugees.

Damon: Ok, climate refugees, so I think we’ve heard a lot about refugees in the context of conflict and people leaving their countries because of war but what is a climate refugee?

Mike: Yes, people who are forced to leave their homes, to leave their countries, they are refugees. A climate refugee is someone who is forced to leave their home or country because of their changing weather systems, the changing climate. This could be their village was destroyed by a storm or the area where they live no longer gets enough water to make farming possible, for example.

Damon: Ok, and as a result they have to find somewhere else to live. Are these protests working? So, are the governments listening to the protesters?

Mike: It depends on what you mean by ‘working’, Fridays for future has been very successful in attracting media attention to climate change, getting people talking about it, getting the topic in view of the public, but government policy change takes years and it could be a very long time before we see any direct impact there.

Damon: Ok, great, well thank you very much for giving us the information, we know a little bit more about Fridays for future now. Mike, maybe we can just review some of the key vocabulary that came up to talk about this topic. So, the words that came up in today’s podcast were:

demanding action
fossil fuels
severe storms
droughts
participating
political figures
charity
climate refugees
destroyed
government

Damon: Alright, thank you for your time Michael.

Mike: Thank you, Damon.

Damon: And thanks for listening.