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Skipping School for a Cause

March 18, 2019

Jan Ole Lindner is 16 years old and no longer willing to leave the future of the planet to the adults. So every week, he skips school to protest. He’s encouraged other students to take part in a global "Fridays for Future" action day on March 15th.

https://p.dw.com/p/3FF51

Some say the movement is controlled by adults. Others say going on strike is not the solution - that students should be studying instead of taking to the streets. Jan Ole Lindner has heard this kind of criticism of the Fridays for Future movement before. But he argues that it's his generation that will suffer the consequences of climate change. So he and many other young people around the world want a say in it, and they’re willing to strike every week as a way of achieving it. Jan Ole is networked with other high-schoolers around Germany over Instagram and Facebook. He’s taken part in demonstrations in Hamburg and Berlin. Now, for the international action day on March 15th, he's been seeking to raise awareness in his home town of Elmshorn. How many students can he bring onto the streets? A report by Linda Vierecke.