The climate crisis is the most pressing issue of our time. It is also deeply generational in nature.

Young people have inherited a planet in decline and have never known a world without manmade natural disasters, and the threat of environmental collapse.

Founded in 2018, School Strike 4 Climate Australia (SS4C) is a youth-led global strike movement made up of students. In 2023, we worked with them to bring urgent attention to the need for political action on the future of our planet.

Young Australians are deeply familiar with the threat of climate crisis, which is a rising cause of anxiety and other mental health challenges among school aged children globally. We knew that the audience we needed to reach on their behalf was the mainstream Australian press who would help SS4C communicate the urgency of their cause and put pressure on politicians to act. More importantly, we wanted to ensure that the media coverage we generated helped to foster the sense of community SS4C was known for, so that young Australians would feel less alone and helpless in the fight against an issue that can feel too overwhelming to tackle. There is strength in numbers, so the more people we could help rally (and the more coverage we could earn) the stronger our support for SS4C’s mission.

The education system requires a medical certificate to explain your absence from school.

So, we created a sick note signed by a different kind of doctor. Doctors of Environmental Science – who recognise the importance of protesting for the planet. Anyone can go online, enter their name and download their personalised certificate. When their school questions their attendance on the day of The National Climate Strike, students can present the Climate Doctors certificate as a defiant symbol of activism that demonstrates that the climate is more important than the classroom.

The education system requires a medical certificate to explain your absence from school.

So, we created a sick note signed by a different kind of doctor. Doctors of Environmental Science – who recognise the importance of protesting for the planet.

Anyone can go online, enter their name and download their personalised certificate. When their school questions their attendance on the day of The National Climate Strike, students can present the Climate Doctors certificate as a defiant symbol of activism that demonstrates that the climate is more important than the classroom.

Students who miss school tend to be punished for their action, even if their absence is for a worthy cause. Our solution needed to not only provide a safety buffer for students but ensure that the discussion maintained its focus on the issue at hand - climate change. We gave students permission to take a sick day for a sick planet by creating a new kind of doctor’s certificate. The Climate Doctor’s Certificate looked and sounded like a regular doctor’s certificate you would get from a GP, except it was signed by prominent climate PHDs including Doctor David Karoly, councillor on the Climate Council of Australia and professor Emeritus at the University of Melbourne, and Dr. Nick Abel, honorary associate professor at ANU College of Science.

Doctor’s Certificate Launch

We launched a website where students could download a personalised Doctor’s sick note so they could skip school & attend National Climate Rallies happening across the country.

PR

Doctors and SS4C leaders became spokespeople for the campaign, raising unprecedented awareness of the certificates & the rallies.

The National Climate Strike

Tens of thousands of students turned out in major cities across the country, using our Doctor’s Certificate to skip school & protest.

After years of declining coverage of climate protests, the sick note fired up the media. And before students had marched out of the classroom to make their voices heard, their sick notes were already protesting for them.

In one week, the campaign reached:

- 2.1 billion impressions.

- Over 7000 downloads

- Media and PR coverage across 26 countries

- $58 million in earned media.

- $0 media spend.