Climate strikes held around the world – as it happened

Young people, inspired by Greta Thunberg, rally to press politicians to act on climate change

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9.43pm GMT

We are living in the sixth mass extinction. Ice is melting. Forests are burning. Waters are rising. And we do not even speak of it. Why?

Because admitting the facts means admitting crimes of epic proportions by living our daily lives. Because counting the losses means being overpowered by grief. Because allowing the scale of the crisis means facing the fear of swiftly impending disaster and the fact that our entire system must change.

But now is not the time to ignore science in order to save our feelings. It is time to be terrified, enraged, heartbroken, grief-stricken, radical.

It is time to act.

9.22pm GMT

Here's an excerpt from A manifesto for tackling the climate change crisis, by UK Student Climate Network:

We're young, we're students and we're calling for change. Our movement started in February when tens of thousands of young people took to the streets in towns and cities around Britain, in an unprecedented emergence of a youth climate justice movement.

We've joined a movement that's spreading rapidly across the world, catalysed by the actions of one individual in taking a stand in August last year. Greta Thunberg may have been the spark, but we're the wildfire and we're fuelled by the necessity for action.

Related: A manifesto for tackling the climate change crisis | UK Student Climate Network