STUDENTS from the University of Cumbria joined in on a nationwide youth strike about the climate with a demonstration in Carlisle.

To coincide with thousands of school children and young people taking action in towns and cities across the country, university students from the city were out in protest outside the Brampton Road Campus.

Friday’s walkout - also supported in other parts of Cumbria - follows an IPCC report into climate change.

It said that globally there is a maximum of 12 years to prevent the temperature rising above 1.5 degrees Celsius and prevent the worst impacts of climate change.

During the strike, students and pupils called on the government to take radical action on the climate to prevent temperatures rising.

Several University of Cumbria students said why they joined the strike.

Reece Moulding, 22, who studies zoology, said: “I recognise the ever growing and urgent need for climate action.

“This should be prioritised by governments and decision makers above everything else as it will affect our very survival on earth.

“Nothing is more important than this and yet still it is hardly talked about in the media in a way that encourages the actions we need to take.

“Just for example, I looked at a research paper on the devastating impact of animal agriculture on the climate and how meat based diets have so much more negative impact than plant based diets, and yet this is not widely promoted or understood.”

Poppy Cookson, 21, a fine art student, said: “Issues of climate change are particularly close to my heart because I am becoming increasingly worried about the future of the environment.

“Myself and other young people and students are recognising these issues and realising that it is the youth of today who will have to face the problems arising due to the climate crisis.

“I’m striking because I’m seriously concerned about the future for myself, my family and the kind of world future generations will be born into if we don’t take action.”

The younger students were also joined by some more mature students at the university.

Hessian Sachs, 31, another fine art student, said: “I don’t want to see any more videos of starving polar bears eating out of bins. It is important for us to stand up for ourselves. For too long, people have been passive and allowed government and corporations to rule over them and act in their own interests, rather than ours.”

Local climate activist and fine art student Fiona Prior added: “It breaks my heart the world we are leaving for young people.

“Having gone back to university myself I see so much potential in all the fantastic young people I am working with. And the last thing I want to see is them losing their futures to a world devastated by the impacts of climate change.

“The flood events we have had in Carlisle are only a taste of what is to come if governments do not step up to really tackle the challenge of climate change. It is time for the politicians to listen to the young people who’s lives will be impacted if we don’t take real action.”

Another national climate strike is planned for Friday, March 15.

Fiona added: “I will be here supporting the young people again and I would urge and encourage other school and university students from across Carlisle to join us in action or take their own.

“The older generation has left this awful mess for young people.

“I hope and believe this movement will grow as more realise the urgency of the situation and that it will lead to change.”