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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Environment
Helen Davidson

Signs of the times: the best Australian climate strike placards

Some of the many signs protesters brought to the Sydney climate strike rally.
Some of the many signs protesters brought to the Sydney climate strike rally. Photograph: Steven Saphore/EPA

Laughing in the face of looming apocalypse, Friday’s climate strike brought out the best in dark Australian humour.

While many signs were deadly serious, teens are nothing if not witty and they came armed with memes and pop culture references.

Three-year-old holding a sign at the climate strike
Three-year-old Matilda at the climate strike in Sydney with a Wiggles sign. Photograph: supplied/First Dog on the Moon

From classic “roses are red” poems to quips such as “I’ve seen smarter cabinets in Ikea,” the hundreds of thousands of people who turned out across the country got creative.

Some referenced the prime minister’s earlier criticism that students should stay in school, returning sledges in style.

Others drew on long memories to rework the “where the bloody hell are you” slogan Scott Morrison so kindly gifted the nation when he ran Tourism Australia, or noted the lack of jobs, beer and Engadine Maccas on a dead planet.

But the message across it all was clear: it’s up to governments to take serious action against this threat to our survival. All the keep cups in the world won’t negate the impact of new coal mines, and pretending the climate isn’t changing won’t work either.

As many a sign said: “Denial is not a policy.”

Or in the words of another, picturing ScoMo holding his infamous lump of coal: “Break up with your girlfriend. I’m bored.”

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