Skipping School Around The World To Push For Action On Climate Change

Tens of thousands of students around the world skipped school school Friday to protest inaction on climate change. It was one of the largest turnouts so far in a months long movement that included the U.S. for the first time, in an event organizers call the "U.S. Youth Climate Strike."

The protests began last summer with teenager Greta Thunberg in Sweden, and gained attention when she delivered a powerful speech at the United Nations climate summit in December, chastising delegates for not doing more.

On Friday, Thunberg took part in a rally in Stockholm, where she called climate change an "existential crisis" that's been "ignored for decades by those that have known about it." This week Thunberg was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.

Strikes and demonstrations were scheduled in more than 100 countries and territories. There were protests in South Africa, India, New Zealand and South Korea. In Europe, students packed streets in Lisbon, Vienna, Rome, and Copenhagen, among other cities. In London, one banner read, "We're missing lessons to teach you one." In Berlin, students chanted, "We are here, we are loud, because you are stealing our future."