News release: Global Climate March in Halifax marks 650 participants

by Editor

Photo Tori Ball

Photo Tori Ball

KJIPUKTUK (Halifax) – This weekend, over 2300 rallies (including 4 in Nova Scotia) took place around the globe in the lead-up to the COP21, also known as the UN Climate Summit. Around 650 people gathered in Halifax to tell Premier McNeil he needs to be in Paris, and to demand leaders who are meeting sign an ambitious deal with real targets and accountability measures.

Despite organizing this event at the last minute, Brian Gifford felt it was important to take on. “We organized this march to demand that our governments get serious about getting us off fossil fuels and commit to a 100% renewable energy future.  I want my grandchildren and great grandchildren to have a thriving, liveable world to grow up in. Haligonians care deeply about climate change; why doesn’t our Premier? ”

Jayde Tynes, a Dal student and chair of the Energy Action Team at the EAC, said, “It is the least privileged and most vulnerable global and local citizens who are the first to feel the effects of the climate crisis, and who suffer the most damage. Climate change amplifies nearly all existing inequalities. Under climate change, injustices that are already unsustainable become catastrophic.  Being that as it may, our climate justice movement IS concerned with protecting a just and safe future for the global community. So it is essential to recognize that all justice is climate justice and that the struggle for racial and economic justice is an unavoidable part of the fight for a fossil free future.”

“We can’t expect political leaders at the Paris climate negotiations to make the legally binding agreements we need to keep global temperature rise under 2 degrees C if efforts aren’t being done at local levels,” said Liv Bochenek with Divest Dal. “We need to work together and build inclusive, intersectional movements, because we deserve so much better than this.”

Lots of other voices also spoke at the rally and marched along Spring Garden, including the newly elected President of the NS Federation of Labour, Danny Cavanagh. He spoke about the importance of Metro Transit’s new buses being more energy efficient as opposed to using diesel fuel, and that the workers of NS are open to a just transition.

For more information on locations and about the international day of action: https://secure.avaaz.org/en/event/globalclimatemarch. The Halifax event site is here: https://secure.avaaz.org/en/event/globalclimatemarch/March_for_the_Planet_1

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