A TEENAGER from Corsham went on strike from school on the last day of term as a protest against global inaction against climate change.
Ellida Dilley, 15, who is in year 10 at the Corsham School, was inspired by by 15-year-old Swedish student Greta Thunberg, who in August decided that every Friday, she would miss classes to sit outside Sweden's parliament until its leaders came into line with the Paris agreement and ended up having a meeting with the UN secretary general, António Guterres.
Ellida said: "It's for the future, and my future grandchildren's future. When you start to look at what's happening, it's scary.
"I watched the video (of Greta) and thought, if she can do something like that, then I can do something, even a small thing, to try and support her and her cause."
She admitted the plan to stay of school, even for a day, seemed like a difficult choice.
"At first I thought it was a good idea and afterwards I did get a bit nervous about it. I thought about it some more and talked myself around, and I stand by what I did," she said.
Mum Helen Dilley said she absolutely supported Ellida's action.
"It's easy to think that one person can't make a difference, but then you see Greta, and you realise that if you take small steps and there are lots of people doing one little thing, then you see things begin to happen."
She said headteacher Rod Bell did not condone Ellida's action in staying away from school but did support action on climate change, with the school trying to reduce its carbon footprint.
Ellida was one of around four students who took the strike action on the last day of term.
She said climate change was an issue she had been aware of for a long time.
More than 20,000 students around the world have now joined school strikes in at least 270 towns and cities in countries across the world.
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