At a Glance

More than 800 Global Climate Strike events are planned Friday across the United States. New York City public school students can join the protests without penalties. The protests are inspired, in part, by teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg,

Millions of young people are expected to skip school Friday as part of the Global Climate Strike to protest lack of action on climate change.

At least 1.1 million students can take part without worrying about an unexcused absence.

New York City has announced its without penalties.

Other districts are also debating how to deal with students who want to participate, including the , the New York Times reported. The Los Angeles district is expected to make a decision Tuesday.

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More than 800 events connected to the strike are planned in the United States on Friday, three days before the Climate Action Summit at the United Nations.

The protests are inspired, in part, by , who began skipping school on Fridays more than a year ago to protest outside the Swedish Parliament.

Swedish youth climate activist Greta Thunberg, center in blue, joins other young climate activists on Friday, September 13, 2019, for a climate strike outside the White House in Washington.

(AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

She was after the number of students taking part in her strikes climbed above 2 million across 135 countries, Reuters reported. The 16-year-old Swede traveled to the United States last month .

Thunberg protested outside the White House last Friday. She'll speak to Congress before heading to New York later this week for the protests and to take part in the U.N. Climate Action Summit.

In addition to the protests Friday in the United States, Global Climate Strike activities will take place in most European countries, Australia, Japan, India, South Africa, Canada and dozens of other locations, the Associated Press reported.

The has a searchable map showing all the events.

A new poll from the Washington Post and the Kaiser Family Foundation found are convinced climate change is caused by humans, and they believe it will cause harm to them personally and to other members of their generation, the Washington Post reported.

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About 1 in 4 have participated in a walkout, attended a rally or written to a public official to express their views on global warming.

“It’s like a dystopian novel,” 16-year-old Madeline Graham of Silver Spring, Maryland, told the Post. “To grow up seeing the world fall apart around you and knowing it’s going to be the fight of your lives to make people stop it.”

Graham, who has organized a student protest for this week, said, “It’s the greatest threat to life as we know it and humanity as we know it. When you’re facing something like that, and you’re 16 years old, and your mom’s yelling at you, and you have classes, and, on top of that, everybody’s gonna die . . . it’s easy to let fear overtake you.”

“But,” she said, “this generation — we’re fighters. And we’re going to win.”