A few shots from the student climate protest/strike today in Barcelona, as thousands of marchers demonstrated against the increasingly worrying evidence of accelerating climate change. This is part of a growing and international effort by the young to fight back against the planetary legacy that they are inheriting.

This is also a local problem in Barcelona, where generations of city planners have worked to increase traffic in the city, vastly increased tourist flights to El Prat, while also supporting a massive increase in the number of highly polluting cruise liners that visit the city.

Despite the region’s reputation for left-wing politics, the actions of the city council on local air pollution are little more than so much rhetoric and political hot air. Financial interests and voters who favour cars over public transport appear to always trump environmental and health concerns.

And if a left-wing city council can not or will not take effective and meaningful environmental measures, what hope is there in a global geo-political environment dominated by China and the US?

A peaceful and, I hope, successful event that sends a strong message both locally and globally.

Climate change is an issue that effects everyone, and there are no second chances.