Islanders protest at Province House for action on climate change

Roughly 100 people gathered at Province House Friday to raise awareness of climate change and call on government to address the climate crisis.

The protest ran in conjunction with the Global Climate Strikes being held around the world, a week-long event of climate action. Inspired by the activism of 16-year-old Greta Thunberg, the global events run until Friday, Sept. 27.

The demonstration was organized by P.E.I.'s chapter of Extinction Rebellion as part of the Fridays for the Future movement that has seen youth around the globe speaking out for better policies on climate change.

Extinction Rebellion launched in the U.K. last fall, demanding that the government tell the truth about climate change and develop policies leading to net zero carbon emissions by 2025.

For attendees, it is imperative that action be taken on the issue.

"This is the year if there's going tobe a turning point, if we actually deal with this," said Michael Pag."This is a year where action has to take place and it's not coming from the top down. So it has to come from the bottom up."

He said even though it might not seem like much, small actions like this add up.

"It's all we can do but,10 people stand here, 100 people, makes a difference.It's all that one simple little action," he said.

And for Pag, current efforts are not enough.

"We're fooling around. A carbon tax, which is helpful, but this is nowhere near the kind of effort that's required. This is like the Second World War. There's got to be a restructuring of the economy," he said.

Another attendee, Kim Kitchen, said she thinks it's her "human responsibility" to attend events like these.

"We just need to look around and see ... that the Earth isin chaos everywhere."

She said she hopes events like this senda strong message.

"Listen to Greta. And all of us," she said.

"It's important to show up to do something to not just stand by while the Earth, the world collapses, but actually be on the good side and to act on it," said Ramona Pal-Kovac, with Extinction Rebellion. "Our message is clear we want action now."

The Global Climate Strike runs all week, and Extinction Rebellion saiditwill be hosting other demonstrations on P.E.I. throughout the week.

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