Voices is the Dorset Echo's weekly youth page - written for young people by young people from across the county.

This week Oliver says it's up to his generation to fight climate change.

If you’re not willing to stand up and fight for your belief, then why bother to have it?

Schoolchildren both nationwide and globally are finally standing up and fought for the environment as walkouts took place across the country on Friday.

This is amazing, but their efforts will be futile if they do not persist until the change they desire is achieved.

The Yellow Vest movement is a striking example of persistence against all odds as it enters its fourteenth week – and Macron reeling back on his fuel tax policy is proof that perseverance is paramount to meaningful protest.

I doubt anyone wants Molotov-toting schoolkids torching cars, but if the protests push on as more than just a one-off, we can show a new generation the importance of challenging the system and holding the powers-that-be to account.

But protest off the picket line is just as important. Those of us wishing to make a change should find ways to reduce waste in our lifestyles by consuming less, reusing and recycling - by being the change you want to see.

If you want something done, do it yourself; it is unlikely anyone else is going to change something for you, so get out there and do it.

It falls on Generation Z to deal with the aftermath left behind by the Baby Boomers and Gen X since Millennials have averted themselves from all forms of responsibility, environmental and otherwise.

The University of Michigan’s ‘Monitoring the Future’ survey only proves this; the willingness to be in an environmental clean up dropped from 33 per cent for Boomers to 21 per cent for Millennials.

The responsibility falls on us to fix the failings of the past and to create a future for our children – without solely thinking about ourselves.

This does not mean we need to look at the past with either abhorrence or reverence; we need to consider both the successes and failures of the past and be pragmatic. I say it not with grandiose, but all seriousness that

But Generation Z has its work cut out.

By Oliver Streather-Paul