Young climate activists around the world: why I’m striking today | Brianna Fruean and others

As young people walk out of classrooms for a global climate strike, a panel of campaigners share their reasons for action

We strike for the Earth, to protect and save it from what the human race has done. As indigenous youths we have a close connection to the Earth. We know that without it we have nothing, we are nothing. Our community is directly affected by the Cold Lake oil sands, which is a large deposit of tar sands. Some of the tar sands can be extracted through drilling, which is incredibly dangerous to land, animals and people, and affects the water and air quality in negative ways. We must think of the future generations: what we do today, tomorrow and the next day will impact the next seven generations. We must change our ways from burning natural resources, from releasing so much carbon, from poisoning what we need to live. We cannot survive by drinking oil.