WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Tens of thousands of people marched to New Zealand’s Parliament on Friday, launching a second wave of worldwide protests demanding swift action on climate change.
The protests were inspired by Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg, who spoke to world leaders this week at a United Nations summit in New York.
A march to the Parliament in New Zealand’s capital Wellington was one of the largest protests ever held there and organizers needed to change their security plans to accommodate the swelling crowd.
Several million people took part in the so-called global climate strike last Friday, which was timed to coincide with the U.N. meeting. New Zealand and a number of other countries focused their protest efforts on the second wave, bookending a week in which climate change was at the forefront of the global conversation.
Thunberg tweeted that she planned to attend a protest on Friday in Montreal.
In Wellington, 18-year-old university student Katherine Rivers said it was great to see young people taking action and personal responsibility by marching.
“We need to stop pandering to some of the people who are making money off climate change. The big oil companies, the dairy industry etc.,” she said. “And make a change for the future of these kids that are here.”
Rivers, who is studying marine biology and environmental studies, said she hopes to make her career about improving the environment, adding that “hopefully I get to have a career.”
While thousands of high school students elected to take time off school to protest, there were also parents, office workers and many other adults who joined the marches. One of them was 83-year-old grandmother-of-three Violet McIntosh.
“It’s not my future we’re thinking about,” McIntosh said.
She said it was time politicians stopped talking and started taking action. She said they should listen to the young people like Thunberg, who she described as “amazing.”
“She stood out there by herself to start it all. Millions of people are following her now,” McIntosh said. “She should be very proud of herself.”