By Derek Schlennstedt
A group of Dandenong Ranges residents joined the thousands of people that made their way to the climate strike in Melbourne on 20 September.
According to Peter Cook, President of Dandenong Ranges Renewable Energy Association, the train was standing room only from Upper Ferntree Gully onwards.
“There were colourful banners and signs everywhere,” he said.
“At one stage, a turtle representing the threat to our Great Barrier Reef boarded. It was full size and everyone cheered.”
The Victorian capital ground in Melbourne came to a virtual standstill on September 20 as thousands upon thousands of people and students poured into Treasury Gardens for the gathering.
Organisers of the event estimated that at least 100,000 people – likely many more – were in attendance, forming crowds so big they spilled out of the Gardens and far down both Spring and Collins Streets.
Mr Cook said that the Melbourne streets were packed with people and that the main messages from the school strikers were clear: ‘We are all in this together’.
“The message is clear,” he said.
“Science says it’s a crisis and we are mad not to listen and act.”
