Worldwide Climate Student Strike March 15

Worldwide Climate Student Strike March 15

Inspired by Greta Thunberg, who has now been nominated for the Nobel prize, there were student strikes across the world protesting inaction on climate change by us – those adults. Inaction does not mean blaming the governments, or those evil ‘global corporations’ Greta points to ALL adults who have done [next to] nothing to combat climate change, and thus probably make her life very, very challenging.

This strike is not just about kids missing schools – to think that way would be to miss the point. It is, I hope, another giant push to get people to stop behaving like ostriches who have their head stuck in the sand and face, as bravely as Greta has done [when she did so it gave her the equivalent of a nervous breakdown]. Remember, students have no power except the ability to be heard. This is what she says are the reasons for the strike:                Why are kids striking?

School children are required to attend school. But with the worsening Climate Destruction this goal of going to school begins to be pointless.
- Why study for a future, which may not be there?
- Why spend a lot of effort to become educated, when our governments are not listening to the educated?

Here is a map showing where strikes happened around the world today – everywhere!

In Ottawa several thousand youth, some young children with their parents, but mostly University aged youth, tried to make their voices heard with this message:

DO SOMETHING NOW !!!

Here is a picture from Ottawa to give you a flavour for the event. I was there with my wife and CACOR member Ian Whyte also attended.

Not only did CACOR have members attend this event, we also, for the first time in years, posted a press release: here is an excerpt from it.

The Association today supported a statement by the International Club of Rome with regard to supporting the concerns of students around the world and the crisis of climate change which their actions emphasize.  The statement includes the following quotation:

 “ To avoid the worst outcomes, global carbon emissions must be cut by half by 2030 and to zero by 2050. For the wealthier nations, this increases to around 80% by 2030, with full de-carbonisation less than a decade later. This is an unprecedented task, requiring a reduction rate of at least 7% annually; no country has to date achieved more than 1.5%”  { Please read the full statement attached to this release above.}

 The Canadian Association is presently undertaking a major project of modelling the bio-physical and infrastructural changes for Canada to explore if and what Pathways for Canada are possible to actually meet existing Paris climate change goals and then to reduce emissions by 80% by 2050.  This report will utilize the most comprehensive data bases available and for the first time at the pan-Canadian level will point to both a methodology which ensures targets are actually met if proper implementation occurs across all identified Pathways. The initial report is expected to be released by May 22, 2019

Clearly the time for study is over. Greta is right, we must ALL – every single one of us – change how we live personally and exert whatever political pressure we can to get our governments and corporations change in many ways – the most obvious transforming to a net zero carbon economy by 2050. I wish humanity good luck, knowing that while we are capable of this goal, it takes a bit of ‘waking up to smell the roses’ and face uncomfortable reality that our current way of life, like that of the dinosaurs, is over. For details about these student strikes see Fridaysforfuture.org