Three East Kootenay communities will join with over 3,000 other events worldwide to let their opinions be heard about climate change.
Protests are scheduled to begin on Friday, November 29, 2019. Demonstrators will meet Fernie Secondary School at 11:00 A.M. and make their way to City Hall. Further North in the East Kootenay, concerned community members will gather at Invermere’s Cenotaph Park at noon. Protesters in Cranbrook are will meet at Rotary Park at Noon and march past City Hall.
“We want to share the message that we need more climate action right now, we don’t have time to wait on this issue,” said Kate Brennen, organizer of Fernie’s climate strike. “We want to see more action done by economic and political leaders, both in our community and around the world.”
Brennen expressed concerns about logging around the region.
“Forestry and the deforestation around Fernie is a really big issue for us. Seeing the beautiful forests here cut down is really tragic and heartbreaking,” said Brennen. “We’d like to see more regulation around that. We’d also like to see the Fernie municipal government include the B.C. Energy Step Code in their building plans.”
Climate strikes have been going on regularly around the world for several months. This particular strike aligns with Black Friday, which Brennen said was intended.
“A big message that we want to send out is an end or a shift in the way that people consume, especially at such high volumes,” explained Brennen. “We believe that Black Friday is a construct to have people buy more. And we want to demonstrate to people that maybe they should be more conscious of what they’re purchasing and why they’re purchasing it.”
Brennen added that she has noticed some positive changes, but more work is still needed.
“With the knowledge that people have now, they definitely want to see a change,” said Brennen. “they’ve shown that through our plastic bag ban, and trying to make their voices heard in council meetings or on social media, trying to spread the word that we need action as far as it can go.”
The strike, according to ClimateStrikeCanada.org, is meant to bring awareness to the growing problem of climate change and ensure a sustainable future.
Activists feel not enough is being done to mitigate current and prevent further damage done by climate change.