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Like oceans rising: green protests sweep the globe

"The oceans are rising, and so are we."

A student's placard in Melbourne sums up a wave of fury that started in Australia and the Pacific Friday (September 20) morning and swept across the world's capitals, inspired by school strikes activist Greta Thunberg.

Telling leaders gathering for a U.N. climate summit to take drastic steps to avert catastrophe.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) SYDNEY CLIMATE STRIKE ORGANISER, VARSHA YAJMAN, SAYING:

"We haven't seen any governmental action being taken since the last strike and that means we're going to keep fighting for the sustainability that we deserve and that we need and the economic stability that we also want for our world, the idea that renewable energy can be the alternative. That is the only option."

(SOUNDBITE) (English) SYDNEY RESIDENT AND I.T, WORKER, NICOLE, SAYING:

"This isn't a fringe movement, this isn't a greeny issue, this isn't a lefty issue. This is a human issue and it's terrific to see all these everyday normal workers, students, mums, dads, kids, babies here supporting the strike."

In Thailand, students were dying to stop climate change.

With some dark humour behind the stark warnings -- like this student's concerns about a planet that's "hotter than my imaginary boyfriend".

Protests are planned in about 150 countries.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) YOUNG STRIKER (MIDDLE), PEEM PRASERTSUNTARASAI, SAYING:

"We are skipping school because teachers teach us how to work in the future, but if we don't do this, there will be no future for us to work in. So what's the point of studying in school if the world is going to be gone?"

Green strategies, like switching to renewable engergy sources, are not just academic for children on these low-lying Pacific islands.

Others lined up on the Solomon Islands' shores wearing traditional grass skirts and brandishing wooden shields to demand the protection of their fragile environment.

No protests were authorized in China -- the world's biggest source of greenhouse-gas emissions.

Scientists say global warming is already causing droughts and heatwaves, melting glaciers, rising sea levels and floods.