Green shoots: Cork teenagers on why the planet needs to clean up its act

We’ve a lot to learn from the students who responded to Greta Thunberg’s call for a global strike to protest about accelerating climate change, writes Donal O’Keeffe.

At lunchtime on Friday, March 15 in the atrium of the brand-new Edmund Rice College, Carrigaline, Co Cork, the atmosphere was electric.

The entire 238-strong student body, along with every staff member, had gathered together to heed the call of 16-year-old Swedish student Greta Thunberg, and to join in a worldwide schools strike to protest against climate change.