Local students urge politicians to take action on climate change
Teens journey to Queen’s Park to urge Ontario politicians to listen to scientists on global warming
A group of city high school students skipped school Friday to protest outside Queen’s Park about the provincial government’s stance on climate change.
Eleven teens from six Peterborough high schools braved the cold to have their voices heard in Toronto.
Ava Lyall, 17, a Grade 12 student at Adam Scott Collegiate, said there’s not much point in being in school if politicians aren’t listening to scientists about climate change.
“There’s no real point for striving for academic
excellence if the people, who we know to be the most educated in their field, aren’t even being heard in parliament or any of their sciences being acted upon,” she said.
Lyall is currently enrolled in the Youth Leaders and Sustainability (YLS) program that’s run through Kenner Collegiate at Trent University.
The program focuses on world issues, environmental action and community involvement.
Lyall and 10 of her YLS classmates decided to skip school Friday to be part of Fridays for the Future, a global climate change movement started by Greta Thunberg.
Thunberg, a 16-year-old student in Sweden, has been protesting outside her government’s parliament every Friday since September.
Students across the world have joined Thunberg in her fight against governments’ lack of initiative in dealing with climate change.
Lyall said she thinks Thunberg is an inspiration, especially since she’s opposing a government in Sweden, a country that most Canadians would deem progressive.
“I think it kind of shifts our prospective a little bit and makes us realize how far we really have to come.”
To the teenage group’s surprise, another band of protesters also supporting Thunberg’s mission turned up outside Queen’s Park on Friday, garnering more attention to the cause.
Emma Booth, a Grade 12 student at Adam Scott in the YLS program said she hopes the protest brings more attention to the issue, prompting citizens, especially youth, to act.
“I think it’s important for youth to stand up and say something because it’s our future. It’s not anyone else’s so we need to take a hold of that,” said Booth, 17.
Because the teens are still too young to vote, Lyall said rallying is a way to have their voices heard.
“(Climate change) affects us the most. We’re the ones who are going to be here for the longest amount of time,” Lyall said.
The Peterborough teen hopes politicians will wise up and stop acting like kids.
“I believe that the government are acting like children and that something needs to change if we actually want to be able to inherit a world that’s livable,” Lyall said.