Our future has to prioritise climate justice | Lucy Gray | TEDxYouth@Christchurch

On the 15th of March 2019, 1.5 million people around the world participated in School Strike for Climate; most of whom walked out of school to do so. This was about young people all over the world taking a stand, rising up, and saying enough is enough. In this thoughtful and engaging talk, activist Lucy Gray makes a compelling argument for putting climate justice at the centre of humanity’s path forward. Lucy is a 12-year-old climate activist and songwriter.

She found her passion in climate action in 2017 and started a climate action group in her school, encouraging young people to come along and learn about climate change.

When the international school strikes reached New Zealand, Lucy saw that were strikes registered all across New Zealand, but none in Christchurch, so she decided to lead the Christchurch strike; she also founded the Christchurch School Strike for Climate (SS4C) group and is now also a co-convenor of the national School Strike for Climate NZ team, a group created by students, for students, to plan and run strikes, and to urge the government to act urgently on climate change.

Lucy has another passion—music. She wrote a song about changing the way we act, and standing up for what is right, called ‘Rise Up’, which she has performed at the strike and other future focused events like National Young Leaders Day and Festival for the Future. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx