LONDON - With climate
protests surging around the world, Collins Dictionary has
declared 'climate strike' its 2019 'word of the year', noting
the term's use has soared 100 times higher than in previous
years.
The Glasgow-based company bases its choice on an annual
search of websites, newspapers, magazines and social media to
see which words in English have seen the most significant
increase in use.
The term, best associated with a global youth climate
movement spearheaded by 16-year-old Swedish activist Greta
Thunberg, describes protests where students miss school, or
adults miss work, to push for faster action on climate threats.
Youth activists said they took the dictionary's declaration
as a sign their efforts were working to raise broader awareness
about climate risks.
“It really shows the impact that young people have had in
heightening (recognition of) the climate crisis,” Jake Woodier,
a campaigner and organiser for the UK Student Climate Network,
told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Climate strikes this year - including in September during
the UN Secretary-General's climate summit in New York - have
drawn millions of participants worldwide.
The first documented use of 'climate strike' was in 2015, to
describe a mass demonstration coinciding with a UN conference
where the landmark Paris Agreement to curb climate change was
put in place, the dictionary company said.
Woodier said he hopes the designation will encourage climate
protesters to keep pressure on public officials, particularly
leading up to planned British elections in December.
'Climate strike' is not the first environmental term to make
the Collins list.
'Rewilding' - restoring areas to a natural state - was a
runner-up this year, and 'single-use' - an adjective describing
items such as plastic containers designed to be thrown away -
took the top spot last year.