Students joined environmental activists outside the Dáil this afternoon to protest at the lack of government action on the global warming crisis.
A group of around 10 students gathered at Front Arch before proceeding to Leinster House, where over 200 activists had gathered.
President of Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) Shane De Rís was present at the march. Speaking to The University Times, De Rís said: We’re out here today calling for action on climate change because we need to act now to protect the planet in the future.”
Izzy Jorgenson, the Chair of Trinity Environmental Society, who also attended the march, told The University Times: “I think there needs to be way more support, I think the fact that there wasn’t anything in the students’ union about this until yesterday is a huge problem. It’s kind of a joke. They really need to mobilise on this.”
Members of the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) were also in attendance. USI will join forces with 15 third-level institutions around the country tomorrow in going plastic-free for a day.
Speaking to The University Times, USI Vice-President for Equality and Citizenship Aisling Cusack said: “The government are not doing enough on climate change at the moment so we need them to really do action.”
“We’ve seen that young people are open to change but this change needs to come from government. Young people nowadays are using tote bags, reusable cups but the government aren’t implementing any changes themselves.”
Trinity is a Green Flag campus and as such has multiple sustainability goals, including ensuring that half of all College waste is recyclable by 2020. Trinity was also the first university in Ireland to divest from fossil fuels.
College has seen various student-led environmental campaigns develop on campus, such as Paper Free Trinity and Plastic Free TCD, which successfully lobbied for the removal of plastic straws from The Buttery and the Pav. Trinity Ball will be completely free of single-use plastics in 2019 and all College thereafter will abide by the same practice.
Ciannait Khan also contributed reporting to this piece.
