CHILDREN striking from school classes over climate breakdown is the clarion call Scotland needs to wake up and act over environmental disaster, delegates at the Scottish Green Party conference have heard.

Maggie Chapman, co-convenor of the Scottish Green Party, told their spring conference in Edinburgh on Saturday that their example was to be applauded, adding: “we must listen to them”.

It comes ahead of an appearance by climate strikers Holly Gillibrand and Josie Law on Sunday.

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Chapman said: “I want to congratulate and praise the thousands of school climate strikers who walked out of classes on 15th March, and I extend a very warm welcome to the strikers who will be speaking to us tomorrow.

“The concern of a new generation for their planet is truly heartening. And it's a concern we must do everything we can to support. Our young people are leading the way in challenging the systems and structures of our politics and our economy.

“We must listen to them."

“We must take them seriously. We must give them their future. We must not be sidelined by the big corporate greenwashing that dissipated the energy of the 1980s environmental movement.”

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She went on: “We’ve had 40 years of failed top-down approaches to tackling climate breakdown. The school strike movement is a real example of social movement driven change.

“I’ve said before that now is the time to be radical. This is what I mean by that. This is important because it’s exactly what we need right now.

“Because the most important thing in the world is that we act now on the environmental and economic crises. Eleven years is our deadline for taking decisive action. Eleven years. 

“Eleven years ago we faced the biggest financial crash in living memory. And we have not managed to deal with all of the fallout from that, nevermind ensure it never happens again. So we’ve got our work cut out for us to make the next eleven years really count.

“To do this, we have to draw as many people as possible into social movements: building, supporting and interacting across social and political divides and tribes. We’ve been told that top down change is the way to do this.

“But this is wrong, and we’ve wasted decades on this. We now need to do what we should have done from the beginning. This isn’t a job just for politicians or political party office bearers.” 

“Everyone has their own particular role to play.”

She also launched an attack on rival political parties in the Scottish Parliament for not backing their calls for a Climate Emergency at Holyrood last week.

In her speech to members, she said: “We see symptoms of this old world all around us: in the death throes of the British Empire, in the rise of fascism across Europe and the Americas, in the acts of terror stemming from hatred and bigotry, and, most alarmingly, in the imminent breakdown of our climate.

“And we know that, in the current political landscape, it appears that it is only the Greens that are willing to take the necessary actions, including a radical shake-up of our democratic structures, to create an economy that works for everyone, and to tackle Climate Breakdown.

“On this last point, that all other parties in Holyrood voted down the Green proposal to declare a Climate Emergency last week shows us just how much work we still have to do. But we get that we must act now in the face of the climate crisis. And we know that we cannot do this alone.

“Greta Thunberg shows us that it’s not individuals that will change the world.

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"It’s not even us all working as greens together with parliament. It’s all of us, pulling together with others who share our desire for a better world, building and growing social movements that will be the agents of change.

“We understand that we don’t need to wait to be in power before we can use our influence to positive effect. Other parties think that change happens only by winning power and then imposing change on the people.

“But we know, because of our roots in participatory democracy and our experiences in communities, that real change is different: it comes from the people.”

And she added: “Action on climate breakdown is about protecting the poorest in the world from the increasing frequency and intensity of natural disasters like Cyclone Idai.

“Action on climate breakdown is about making a more equal world. We can stop climate breakdown and we can make that movement a force that doesn't just save the planet, but one that creates a better world for all.”

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“I've said before that now is the time to be radical. That's more true now than ever before.

"Our time has come and we must seize it. Our children’s children, our communities, our planet, and the future of humanity depends on it.”