Students in Campbell River demonstrated outside of city hall on Friday, protesting inaction on climate change and calling for a ban on plastic bags and straws, and they say the rallies will continue.
The afternoon student strike, which included students from at least two schools, was the latest in a wave of youth-led demonstrations that have spread worldwide in recent weeks amid mounting frustration about the lack of progress in fighting human-caused global warming.
“Climate change is horrible and nobody’s doing anything to stop it,” said 13-year-old Meika Shaflaik of Pheonix Middle School. “It’s really important that we all stand up because we are the future. All these people who aren’t doing anything about it won’t be here in the future.”
“We can’t vote until we’re 18, so it’ll be the year 2023 when we actually can make a difference via politics and stuff,” said 13-year-old Stella Toews, also a Pheonix student. “So we have to do something because the older generation isn’t really helping right now as much as they should.”
The protest began at 11:30 a.m. and was slated to continue until 3 p.m. By 12:30, close to 100 students were on either side of St. Ann’s Road in central Campbell River, waving placards and chanting slogans including “stop denying, the Earth is dying.”
Several dozen high school and middle school students are staging an afternoon strike to protest inaction on #climatechange in Campbell River today pic.twitter.com/sfhWAHPfQY
— David Gordon Koch (@davidgordonkoch) April 5, 2019
Grade nine Carihi Secondary student Diego Christiansen-Barker, who helped promote the protest, said he hopes the next generation will have the same world as he does – or a better one, a sentiment echoed by several students.
“We are the future, and the adults and the people who are leading our nations and the big corporations, they’re going to be the past soon,” he said.
A local ban on plastic bags and straws would only make a small difference, he said, but “it encourages other communities to do the same thing.”
The larger goal is for Canada and other countries to align themselves with the Paris Climate Agreement, he said.
By January, 184 countries had ratified that 2015 international climate treaty, which aims to limit the increase in average global temperatures to less than 2 C above pre-industrial levels by curbing greenhouse gas emissions. Canada is reportedly on track to miss its emissions targets by a wide margin.
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Climate change has galvanized youth-led protests in cities around the world, inspired in part by Greta Thunberg, a 16-year-old Swedish activist who made headlines in January when she spoke at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, telling delegates, “I want you to feel the fear I feel every day. And then I want you to act.”
Thunberg held a prolonged daily protest outside the Swedish parliament last year, and she inspired students in cities around the world to walk out of classes on March 15, with Canadian demonstrations in cities including Vancouver, Edmonton, Regina, Toronto, Montreal and Quebec City
Lola Critchlow and Brianna Pollock, both grade 11 students at Carihi Secondary, were inspired to organize the Campbell River demonstration by Thunberg and the website FridaysForFuture.org, which tracks the movement around the world.
“We wanted to do it at Carihi High because we thought a lot of people would care about it, and as we see a lot of people do,” Critchlow said.
The protest resulted in an impromptu meeting with city officials. Elle Brovold, the city’s corporate officer, said staff invited the students inside and made a presentation about topics including Campbell River’s climate change adaptation plan.
Councillor Colleen Evans, who is serving as acting mayor, was also present, according to city staff.
READ MORE: Canada’s failure to fight climate change ‘disturbing,’ environment watchdog says
The presentation also touched on ways that youth can get involved in city policy, including through writing letters to restrict the use of plastic bags or straws in Campbell River, said Brovold. The city is looking into those issues, she said.
Critchlow said the city’s response was encouraging, but she expressed frustration about students’ lack of power.
“It’s really cool to see that they are taking steps towards that, but it is frustrating that we can’t really have a voice in a lot of it,” Critchlow said, adding that she hopes that youth activism will make a difference.
Students including Critchlow and Pollock said their parents were supportive of the action. They said quite a few teachers also supported the initiative – including by showing videos of Thunberg’s speeches – although teachers stopped short of explicitly condoning a walk-out.
Pollock said the rallies will take place outside city hall every Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. as students push for a ban on plastic shopping bags, produce bags and straws, in that order.
“As for the future, we would really like B.C. to be aligned with the Paris Agreement,” said Pollock in an email on Sunday. “We are hoping that the city will take action, and are willing to protest until that happens.”
Most students chose not to skip classes for the protest. The halls of Carihi were full as lunch period began at 11:30 a.m., and there was no sign of a mass exodus.
One student told the Mirror that she couldn’t miss a test that afternoon, but she helped make placards ahead of time.
Carihi principal Fred Schaub said that attendance is important but some students had notes from parents excusing them from class. The protest was also a learning experience, notably the meeting with city officials, he said.
“I really think it’s positive,” he said, noting that young people are often criticized for political apathy.
Schaub said he was glad to see social engagement among students, and didn’t see any reason to punish them for it.
“If we don’t nurture that at the school, if we just restrict that or stop it, that would kill that all off at a young age.”
He said there were no reports of vandalism or students acting disrespectfully.
When it became clear that some students would attend the protest, he sent an email to teachers telling them to discuss it with students, emphasizing that they should focus on safety if they go.
“Safety is always number one, and number two is the learning, and I think many students did some learning that afternoon.”
This article was updated on April 6 to include comments from Carihi Secondary principal Fred Schaub and other details. On April 8, it was updated with comments from Pollock about future plans.
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