Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Schoolgirls inspired by Greta Thunberg hold climate protest outside Moray Council

Martha Allsop (Elgin Academy) aged 13, Hannah Weir (Speyside High) aged 12, Bria Alexandra (Speyside High) aged 12.
 
Pictures by JASON HEDGES
Martha Allsop (Elgin Academy) aged 13, Hannah Weir (Speyside High) aged 12, Bria Alexandra (Speyside High) aged 12. Pictures by JASON HEDGES

A group of Moray schoolgirls looking to fight for their future have formed a climate change group and and kicked-off their efforts with a protest in Elgin yesterday.

Inspired by 15-year-old Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, Hannah Weir, 12, and her friends Martha Allsop, 13, and Bria Alexander, 12, stood outside the Moray Council headquarters for two hours to demand action is taken as soon as possible.

The group have created a new organisation called Moray Climate Action and hope to catch the attention of local people by holding regular protests throughout the region.

Hannah wants to raise awareness of the impending threat climate change and show the Scottish Government and the local authority that they should be taking action now.

Speaking at the protest yesterday, the youngster said: “We decided to strike for our future today because while the Scottish Government has declared a climate emergency, it has said the climate bill will be in place by 2045.

“We think that is too late.

“We have been inspired by Greta Thunberg and all of the other young people who are striking across the world.

“It made us feel like we should get involved because we were striking at our school, Speyside High, but nothing was really happening because we were not allowed off school grounds.

“We decided to come here, where there are a lot more people, hoping that if they saw us they might actually do something about it.”

Moray Climate Action aim to strike at the council headquarters every Friday between 11am and 1pm to show solidarity with protests across the globe.

With the potential for her future prospects to be detrimentally affected by climate change, Hannah hopes the protests will make a difference.

She said: “It’s very important to raise awareness about this as we are at the point where most of us are scared to have children because they won’t have a future and won’t be able to live really.

“We are at the point where we really need to do something.”

Martha added: “I got involved in this because I wanted to support my friend and also because it is a really good cause.

“We only have 11 years I think for us to do something or it will be irreversible.”