Criticise the climate strikers if you like. In five years we'll all be at the ballot box and the world will change

Politicians count votes, not marchers. And we are fired-up.

Young people are increasingly outraged by the wholly inadequate response to the climate crisis. So far, society has failed. But more specifically, many of those in key positions have failed society. Too many “leaders” who have had the chance to help meet this challenge have ignored the scientific evidence for three decades.

Right now, we have 11 years to cut global emissions in half. Eleven years to redesign our economy. We urgently need a political mandate for systemic change and, right now, collective action through the climate strikes is one of the only tools that can deliver that.

These climate strikes are rooted in a simple belief: do what the science calls for to arrest the climate crisis and to save humanity. Do justice to the f***ing science.

This message has hit home. The strikes are spreading on a scale that is breaking historical precedents for civil action.

At its peak, the Occupy movement was staging protests in 82 countries. The climate strikes have cut across borders, spanned cultures and united a global community in a unique way. A year ago there was one protest undertaken by one person in one country; last week saw 7 million people take to the streets in 185 countries adding up to a remarkable 6,100 protests.

Already these strikes have already brought a new-found authority to the climate movement. This is ironic given that a “child”, as Greta Thunberg refers to herself, is by definition powerless. They do not hold the resources or the authority, nor can they vote. But it is those who are deprived of power who are compelled to exert influence in other ways.

As James Connolly wrote in the early 20th century, there are “none so fitted to break the chains as they who wear them”.

The vulnerable and the powerless drive revolutionary change. This is what we are seeing happen right now. In the climate crisis, young people are the most vulnerable. We have the most to lose. We will live with the greatest burden.

As with any social movement, the success of the climate strikes will be judged not by their popularity but by their ability to change the world. And judging it by this criteria should give us hope.

There is every reason to believe this is only the beginning as the capacity for growth is enormous. In cities with the highest turnout, only about 5-8 per cent of young people have so far taken part. Evidently, the people who will be most affected are capable of turning out in far greater numbers.

Even so, the question remains: how does that help achieve the climate targets that were set out in the Paris Accord? Obviously, a climate strike won’t dismantle the fossil fuel system in and of itself. But it could mobilise a very significant number of people who could could transform public policy through the ballot box.

Politicians count votes, not marchers. But if you think that the young people are going to give up Friday after Friday but not turn out to vote when their time comes, then you are in denial.

We are fired-up. We are a growing mass of people who overwhelmingly share a set of beliefs. These beliefs draw their inspiration from the climate science. We have the connectivity to mobilise faster than any other generation. And year on year, our voting numbers are increasing.

What that will represent eventually is a mandate for systemic change and the end of an economic era built on extraction, exploitation and exhaustion. Today’s failing system will give way to a new era of economic progress that is smarter, cleaner and more prosperous. Ours is a net-positive vision with opportunities galore: new sectors, new business models, new energy sources, new value-chains and new ideas of shared prosperity. It will benefit from decades of innovation and best practice.

And the impact of mass mobilisation could run deeper still. Such heightened civic engagement could be the birth of a new normal. Here is a cohort of young citizens coming together and recognising their shared stake in a fragile planet in a process that could be truly transformative. This is the generation which will reshape our attitudes, reinvigorate our politics and redefine our economies.

Sam Butler-Sloss is chair of Economics for Change, a student-led organisation based out of the University of Edinburgh