On Friday over 100 people protested in downtown Nanaimo as part of the Global March to End Fossil Fuels in advance of the UN Climate Ambition Summit in New York this Wednesday. It was one of dozens across Canada and hundreds of protests around the world.<\/p>\n
Georgie Holden, 12, marched with her mother Georgie Holden, 12, her mother Karistina Holden, and grandmother Missi Hegyes from Maffeo Sutton Park to Nanaimo City Hall.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to have a future,\u201d Georgie said. \u201cI've always wanted to be a storybook writer and I don't want my future to be taken away from me. I don't want it to be taken away from my children and my grandchildren.\u201d<\/p>\n
The march\u2019s demands included no new fossil fuel projects, an end to subsidies, a rapid phase out of fossil fuel use, an end to \u201cgreenwashing\u201d and for fossil fuel corporations to pay reparations.<\/p>\n
Climate activist Derek Menard helped organize the local march.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that emitting greenhouse gases are warming the planet,\u201d he said. \u201cWe know that we need to stop that. We know that if we don't stop, it is going to make extreme weather and droughts, and floods and all host of other horrible things worse and worse on this planet to the point that it becomes unlivable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nanaimo City Councillor, and former Green Party MP, Paul Manly told the crowd that he\u2019s proud of his record on environmental issues.<\/p>\n
\u201cI say damn the torpedos,\u201d he told the crowd. \u201cI'm not ashamed of anything that I've done as a politician. I've stuck my neck out. I've said what I wanted to say, I voted the way I wanted to vote. [Let] the chips fall where they may.\u201d<\/p>\n
Manly says that the recent decision by city council to accelerate a Zero Carbon Step Code<\/a> that requires strict emissions standards for new homes being built in the city was a small step towards lowering emissions but the province and federal government need to do the heavy lifting.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat infuriates me is senior levels of government talking about climate change and the need for climate action,\u201d he said. \u201cBut then continuing to build pipelines.\u201d<\/p>\n Councillor Ben Gesselbaract, who attended the rally with his young son, says that it was the support of local climate activists that helped sway city councillors to pass the zero carbon step code.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen Fortis came each time with a strong lobby, [with] a lot of misinformation, guess who showed up?\u201d he asked the crowd. \u201cThis group showed up, filled the gallery, filled our email boxes, and you know what? That made a really easy decision for a lot of councillors.\u201d<\/p>\n City councillor Hiliary Eastmure also attended the event.<\/p>\n Vancouver Island University student Jasmine Tomczyk told the crowd that she was marching because she was concerned about local food security.<\/p>\n \u201cNobody should go hungry in a world where we waste one-third of our food,\u201d she said. \u201cThere's enough for everyone and they will convince you that we don't have the resources but we do. They just don't want to give it to us.\u201d<\/p>\n Menard, who has been arrested multiple times in acts of civil disobedience such as blocking roadways<\/a> to protest climate and forestry policies, says that food shortages could lead to social unrest.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are in a position right now where we are barreling toward that cliff of insufficient food for everybody on earth,\u201d he said. \"And when people run out of food, violent protests happen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t