SYDNEY, N.S. — SYDNEY, N.S. — He couldn’t reach the microphone on his own but Skylar McDonald, 6, made sure the crowd at the climate crisis rally in Sydney Friday knew how he felt.
“We need to stop this so we don’t die and the plants don’t die,” McDonald said to the cheers of those attending the event. “There is only one earth unless astronauts find find another with life on it. So we need to stop this.
“We need to do everything we can to stop this.”
McDonald’s mother, Ashley Dawson, said her son asked her to let him attend the rally because of his concerns about the environment and the unfolding climate crisis.
“Our family is very concerned,” said Dawson. “And he wants a better future for himself and he sees what is happening in the world. We’ve picked up litter on the side of the street and then the next day it’s there again and it’s very frustrating for even the younger people to see these bad things happening.
“It’s something he wants to change. But it’s a shame that my son has to worry about this at age six."
ALL AGES ATTEND
Between 150 and 200 people of all ages attended the three-hour Strike for the Earth rally in front of the Civic Centre, organized by Extinction Rebellion, an international movement founded in the United Kingdom last year that uses peaceful protest to bring about social change on climate issues. The Sydney event was one of hundreds of rallies taking place around the world Friday with even national leaders such as Liberal leader Justin Trudeau and NDP leader Jagmeet Singh taking part. In Cape Breton, the local chapter held several other events including a picnic for the planet on Sept. 20 at Wentworth Park in Sydney, a presentation on climate change by Scott Sharplin at Cape Breton University on Monday and carbon zero theatre at the Highland Arts Theatre on Tuesday. There was also a climate walk event in Baddeck on Friday where people were invited to walk together to face climate change.
At the Sydney rally, protesters led by Sharplin attempted to reach Cape Breton Regional Municipality Mayor Cecil Clarke but he wasn’t in the Civic Centre. Later during the event, Lloyd MacPherson, the national online moderator of Extinction Rebellion, phoned Clarke and, when the answering machine kicked in, protesters bellowed behind him: “What do we want? Climate action. When do we want it? Now!”
“We can’t see his face but he’ll at least hear our voices,” added Sharplin.
FEDERAL POLITICIANS
Several federal political candidates did show up including representatives from the Green, Liberal and NDP parties. Two CBRM councillors also attended, Amanda McDougall and Kendra Coombes, and Sharplin asked the CBRM councillors for an update on where the council was with its own climate action plan and he stressed its importance.
“(It’s about) taking vital steps to prepare CBRM citizens and all of Cape Breton from emergencies, extreme weather catastrophes, like, I don’t know, hurricanes? Like flooding? Both of which we have experienced since 2014 so that climate action plan is a safety net — it’s there because we acknowledge that change is coming, as Greta (Thunberg) says, whether we like it or not," said Sharplin. “Extreme weather is going to become more and more frequent. I read a study that said 100-year storms are going to be annual events in this part of the world by 2050. So the kinds of storms that your grandmothers and grandfathers remembers from the 1940s, they’re going to become annual affairs. Think about hurricane Dorian maybe five times worse than it was and think about that happening every year. That’s what kids have to look forward to if they stay in this part of the world. We need to prepare that safety net. We need those plans in motion.”
McDougall’s answer probably wasn’t what he wanted to hear.
'NOTHING HAS CHANGED'
“The long and short of it is, nothing has changed since the last time,“ said McDougall. “We’re not doing anything in terms of making sure people are not building in areas that are going to be filled with water shortly. We’re not looking at the plants that are being put into planters here making sure that they are pollinator-friendly. Making sure that they are supportive of native species. There are so many small things that we are not doing. Please know there are people who are fighting the fight inside, albeit we are a small crew but keep yelling at your elected officials.”
But it was Asta Antoft, a 69-year-old retired teacher who has recycled all her life, who may have had the most sobering thoughts about recent efforts towards global climate action.
“I am very encouraged to see there’s another generation that are really becoming involved and becoming informed,” said Antoft. “What I am very sad about is that we haven’t seemed to have made any great strides — yes, we’re recycling but most of our plastics does not get recycled. Yes, we’ve reduced a lot of thing — our vehicles are more energy efficient … but we still haven’t made the changes. Why haven’t we? There seems to be something amiss there. I’ve been involved with this for over 30 years and it’s getting worse. It’s not getting better. We need to go back and make the changes on a personal level.”
CAUTIOUS OPTIMISM
Others were more cautiously optimistic.
“Start with small things in the municipality like putting up 'no idling' signs and enforcing bylaws to fine people for idling their cars, change street lights to LED, more efficient lights — it’s just little steps moving towards the big picture,” said Cape Breton University student Matt Mercer, 22.
But the work need to start soon, says Bhreagh McKinnon, 19, of New Waterford.
“We need to invest more money into green energy and just work on actual programs that go into green energy because regular people are reusing straws and single-use plastic but you have to dig deeper and get into the corporate conglomerates who are the ones doing the most polluting. Canada just bought a pipeline — there was no need of that.
“Put the money in to support the environment because you can’t have jobs and an economy when it’s all dead.”
