Open letter to the principals of the schools in Norfolk

Dear Principal,

We are writing to ask you to support the climate and environmental activism of your students by refraining from taking any disciplinary action if students decide to participate in the ‘Fridays for Future’ and ‘Global Climate Strike’ protests. We also encourage you warmly to facilitate your students’ participation in these urgently needed protests.

The ‘1.5 degree special report’[1] by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) confirms that humans have already caused irreversible climate change, and that only immediate decisive action may still limit temperature rises to 1.5°C. The ‘biodiversity and ecosystem services report’[2] by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) leaves no doubt that we have no time to lose if we want to preserve this planet for current and future generations.

Young people who are part of the ‘Fridays for Future‘ and ‘School Strike’ movement have played a crucial role in drawing much-needed public attention to the climate and biodiversity emergencies, and in demanding governments around the world to step up their responses to these enormous threats.

On the 29th November, the UK Student Climate Network invites young people and adults alike to join another Global Climate Strike to demand that the Government declares a climate emergency and implements a Green New Deal to achieve Climate Justice, that the national curriculum is reformed to address the ecological crisis as an educational priority, that the Government communicates the severity of the ecological crisis and the necessity to act now to the general public, and that the Government recognises that young people have the biggest stake in our future, by incorporating youth views into policy making and bringing the voting age down to 16.[3]

We hold dear the democratic right to peaceful protest. Young people in particular must not be deprived of this right given that it is their future that is at stake. They will have to pay the price if those in position of authority today fail to act now.

We therefore urge you to allow your students to exercise their right to protest the formidable threats posed by the climate and biodiversity emergency and continued government failure to address them.

Respectfully yours,

By signing, you give permission for us to add your name to an open letter to be shared with principals across Norfolk. 

[1] https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/
[2] https://www.ipbes.net/global-assessment-report-biodiversity-ecosystem-services
[3] https://ukscn.org/our-demands/