“Hey hey, ho ho! Climate change has got to go!”
The phrase was chanted on repeat as hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside City Hall on Friday, demanding for action to be taken towards climate change.
The local strike was one of 6,600 worldwide as part of the Global Climate Strike on September 27th, with roughly 350 Londoners participating.
“We have even less time than we thought,” says Heenal Rajani, one of the organizers of London’s strike.
“The way we live our lives… consumption patterns, the amount of pollution we create… it’s destroying the planet, it’s destroying ourselves.”
A few protestors with some awesome signs! pic.twitter.com/ZYXMf93EHN
— XFM News – 106.9 The X (@XFMNews) September 27, 2019
Genevieve Langille is the other organizer. The Central Secondary School student led demonstrators across Victoria Park, and through the downtown core on Friday, flooding the streets with a message that climate change is more than just an international issue.
“In London locally, you can see climate change [such as] how Lake Huron has risen, but you can also see it in heatwaves in the summer.”
Langille challenges Londoners to view themselves in a different angle.
“We have to think less about how we are victims of climate change, more about how we are perpetrators… we should adjust our consumptions.”
Among the chanting crowd stood a father-daughter dual.
Dad Trent Cruz tells X FM News he brought his child along to teach her the same messages that Langille and Rajani advocate for.
“[My daughter] is pretty young, she’s only seven… [but] I know that young people are starting to get increasing pressed about the state of the world… I want her to see that there’s a lot of people who want to do something different.”
For Cruz, a shift away from capitalism is a step in the right direction.
“We can’t have the unrestrained growth that capitalism requires, so I hope that we’ll shift away from a system that has lead to this precipice that we all find ourselves on.”
Loving Mother Earth. #climatestrike #climateaction pic.twitter.com/88lVt101dy
— XFM News – 106.9 The X (@XFMNews) September 27, 2019
Ending capitalism will be a mega challenge, but according to Jamie Skimming, the manager of energy and initiatives with the City of London, Londoners can take a much smaller step that will lead to big changes.
Skimming tells X FM News Project Neutral is a great tool to use.
“In five minutes, people can get the ‘first start’ in terms of taking action. [Everyone] has different pathways when taking action towards climate change…What can I do with me and my family? What’s the big action that we can take? The actions for me will be different than actions for you.”
Skimming adds he’s glad to see a large turn-out at the strike, and hopes for change to be implemented soon as the demonstrators repeatedly chant “We are unstoppable, another world is possible!” through downtown.
