Local student organises Wrexham’s first climate strike

A Wrexham student is organising the first youth climate strike in town this week.

The protest at Llwyn Isaf green by the Guildhall at mid-day on Friday has been organised by Lily Simpson, an 18-year-old student at Ysgol Morgan Llwyd.

The international protest against climate change began with Greta Thunberg in Sweden and is now a global event each month with thousands of young people striking in order to make clear that they want action on climate change.

Commenting on this week’s event, Lily said: “We feel that officials in charge and the older generation have been failing us by destroying our future and we are no longer willing to let that be the case.

“The change in climate is affecting people and animals already, it’s not a problem we can continue to ignore. I went to the strike protest last month in Manchester and realised how much awareness was raised just from that one event.

“I figured that by starting a protest closer to home in Wrexham our message would reach an even wider group of people.”

Four demands have also been put forward as part of the climate strike, including:

1- The Government declares a climate emergency and prioritise the protection of life on earth, taking active steps to achieve climate justice.
2- The national curriculum is reformed to address the ecological crisis as an educational priority.
3- The Government communicates the severity of the ecological crisis and the necessity to act now to the general public.
4- 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.”

Her calls were backed by Councillor Carrie Harper, Plaid Cymru’s chair of lifelong learning scrutiny committee on Wrexham Council, who added: “I can’t think of a more important lesson for young people to learn than organising for themselves to save the planet.

“From speaking to the protest organiser, I can see that it’s a peaceful event and is all about raising awareness about the situation we face in terms of climate change.

“They have the full support of the Plaid Cymru group of councillors.”