Students on the Sunshine Coast joined thousands across Canada on Friday, May 3 to call for action on climate change.
“It’s a national strike so we need to band together all across the country to let people know,” said Grade 11 Elphinstone student Siera Marits. “All of these youth out here, from kindergarten all the way to Grade 12, we’re all showing that this is our future and you are affecting it.”
More than 200 youth and their adult supporters showed up at Davis Bay Pier at 1 p.m. as part of the Canada-wide protest. Local groups Alliance 4 Democracy and Extinction Rebellion were present, bringing their large blow-up elephant with “Climate Crisis” inscribed on its side.
“I did my research, I’m going to meetings, I understand how serious climate change is right now, and I understand we need to do something about it,” said Chatelech Grade 11 student Wesley Schneider, a member of Extinction Rebellion.
A similar protest was held at Davis Bay Pier on March 15, organized by students and activist groups. Some high school students have pledged to protest regularly on Fridays.
Several groups have been involved in organizing protests worldwide, including the student-led Fridays for Future, founded last August after Greta Thunberg, a 15-year old Swedish student, began raising awareness about climate change by sitting outside Swedish parliament for several weeks.
