Fridays for Future launches weekly Talks for Future

By Burak Bir

ANKARA (AA) - Global climate protest group Fridays for Future launched a weekly Talks for Future initiative bringing the movement from the streets to the internet due to the global coronavirus pandemic.

"Starting this Friday the movement will hold weekly webinars and discussion rounds with scientists, journalists, and activists as well as other international high-level experts," climate advocate group 350 said in a statement on Tuesday.

Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, Fridays for Future has postponed all mass gatherings and called for a "climate strike online, a strike from home and on the Internet."

"We're taking this education in our own hands with our new project #TalksForFuture, so that even in these coming weeks, where we are flooded with news about the coronavirus, we won't forget about the climate crisis," Ariadne Papatheodorou, a 16-year old climate activist from Greece, said in the statement.

Journalist and activist Naomi Klein and Diarmid Campbell-Lendrum, climate change and health team leader of the World Health Organization, will be this Friday's guests in the webinar to be streamed live at 2 p.m. GMT on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.

Like many economic, sports and cultural events, climate demonstrations have been affected by COVID-19 outbreak but have not stopped all demonstrations.

Groups such as Extinction Rebellions, Fridays for Future and 350 urged protesters to prevent mass gatherings and continue with digital activism.

The movement led by Swedish activist Greta Thunberg quickly became a global phenomenon and has sought to bring world governments into full compliance with the 2015 Paris climate accord.