Student activists skip school to take on climate change

Kids these days are playing hooky for very different reasons than they used to.

Coordinated student-led climate change demonstrations took place in more than 100 countries and territories around the world on Friday. As part of a growing global movement demanding tough action on climate change from their governments, tens of thousands of students walked out of school to join the protests, including in nearly every U.S. state.

The movement began last year when a 16-year-old Swedish activist, Greta Thunberg, began holding solitary demonstrations in front of the Swedish parliament in Stockholm. NPR reported that Thunberg, who has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize this, participated in a rally in Stockholm on Friday, calling climate change "an existential crisis" that has been "ignored for decades."

Friday’s "strikes" provided one of the largest turnouts so far. Students mobilized via word of mouth and social media.