Activists spanning over 150 countries participated in the global climate strike Friday, but activists in China — the world’s leadinggreenhouse gas emitter — were noticeably silent as protests were not authorized in the country, according to reports.
Thousands gathered in cities across the globe — including London, Berlin, Tokyo, and Washington, DC — to protest anthropogenic climate change and the purported lack of urgency to address it. However, there was a remarkable lack of participation from individuals in China — the planet’s worst greenhouse gas emitter — minus a protest in Hong Kong.
According to the Guardian, “No protests were authorized in China.” However, the China Youth Climate Action Network’s Zheng Xiaowen said that Chinese youth “have their own methods.”
“We also pay attention to the climate and we are also thinking deeply, interacting, taking action, and so many people are very conscientious on this issue,” she added.
Several climate change activists in D.C. decried the U.S. for its role in contributing to climate change despite the fact that the U.S. has made great strides in reducing its carbon output, seeing the “largest decline in CO2 emissions in the world for 9th time this century” in 2017. The largest increase that year came from China.
According to a report released by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last year, the U.S. reduced its greenhouse gas output by 2.7 percent during President Trump’s first year in office.
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