Glen Innes school students will tomorrow participate in an international school strike to draw attention to climate change.
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They will be joining students in Armidale, Tamworth and 60 other places in Australia. The school strike for climate will involve likely hundreds of thousands of students in 90 countries across the globe simply walking out of school for a few hours tomorrow.
The strikes are against school rules. Kickoff in Glen Innes is set for 2:30 at Anzac Park, with an option for non-rule breakers to turn up at 3:00.
Bethany Coulter, a year 12 student said the strike would go as long as it needs to.
"When we think we've got the message across, when enough people have stopped and stared and gone by, when we think we're satisfied with what we've done then it'll be finished," she said.
She said they weren't necessarily asking for specific policy outcomes, though the national campaign is broadly calling for governments to put a stop to the proposed Adani coal mine in Queensland, to not grant approvals for new more coal or gas plants, and to switch to 100 per cent renewable energy by 2030.
In Glen Innes they aim to "spread awareness".
"First step is that the government is aware of what they're doing," she said.
"The second step is that if they're unwilling to change anything then we as the people, we implement something.
"And there have been cases all over the world where the people have actually taken their government to court over negligence about not doing anything about climate change so in the long run that would be the goal if nothing is done before that."
Premier Gladys Berejiklian is a critic of the strikes, arguing today that "children are there to go to school, and I absolutely support their rights to have views about the world, and I absolutely support them expressing themselves - but not during school."
Ms Coulter turned it around on her, arguing they were only skipping school because of what she saw as the bad behavior of government.
"We shouldn't wag school - but they shouldn't mine coal, shouldn't frack, shouldn't do all these things. What we're doing is no less political that what the government is doing.
"Although we're a small town and we're not on a huge city scale a difference is a difference."