Shillong, May 24: Hundreds of students took out a march on the streets here on Friday as part of the campaign to save planet Earth and to promote climate change awareness in the state.The initiative was undertaken under ‘Fridays for Future,’ a youth movement joined by hundreds of students mostly from Shillong city.

‘Fridays for Future’ was started by Swedish schoolgirl, Greta Thunberg in Sweden. Thunberg, at the age 15, began protesting about the need for immediate action to combat climate change outside the Swedish parliament and has since become an outspoken climate activist.Raising placards and shouting slogans on the need to seriously combat the impact of climate change, students and some activists started the march from Don Bosco Square, Laitumkhrah and culminated at the premises of the State Central Library. Cyclists led the march from the front.

Highlighting six ideas to fight climate crisis in Meghalaya, the ‘Fridays for Future’ called upon the Meghalaya government to recognize that “we are in the midst of an ecological breakdown and acknowledge
the climate change is a real problem that requires immediate attention.”

It also wanted mandatory use of public transportation for schools such as school buses to reduce traffic congestion and carbon emissions, mandatory rainwater harvesting system for procurement of licenses to
develop new real estate projects such as houses, government offices, and commercial buildings in the state.

“We also want the government to ensure that public transportation be used every Tuesday and Thursday, a plan aimed at making the use of public transportation compulsory for all government servants on such
appointed days,” the Fridays for Future said.

Moreover, it also urged people in the state to make Meghalaya’s towns cycle friendly and have cycle lanes, and ban single use plastics particularly straws and cutlery in the state.

Students who spoke pointed out how climate has changed in Shillong and Meghalaya over the years, and Shillong is getting warmer and warmer each passing year.

“If older persons might die of old age, younger generations will die of climate change if this problem is not addressed,” one of the students, Joel Kyndiah said.

Raising an alarm that people around the world are facing the consequences of climate change, he said, the people of Meghalaya must be cautious, and expressed sadness over pressure groups not raising and spreading awareness about this.

A memorandum was submitted to the state government by the students after the campaign. (EoM)