Climate rally takes place in City Park

‘The climate movement isn’t just about the climate. It is a social justice movement’ 

Image by: Curtis Heinzl
Queen’s students organize rally with local organizations. 

Over two hundred people from Kingston demonstrated in a climate action rally held in City Park on Sept. 24. The rally was dubbed the “Fridays for the Future” event.

The demonstration was in part organized by 350 Kingston and Just Recovery—two local organizations committed to climate advocacy.

“We have students who gathered to do it. One of them is a German exchange student [Sophia] and in Germany Fridays for the Future is huge. All summer she was reaching out to various climate organizations,” Stephanie Sherman, ConEd ’24 and one of the organizers of the event, said in an interview with The Journal.

Sherman and Sophia met at a 350 Canada event called “Canada is on Fire.” After a few conversations, the two began planning for the climate rally that took place last Friday.

“We are in a climate emergency, and immediate action needs to be taken. Part of our event was sending out demands to local governments. […] Cancelling the trans-mountain pipeline, and ending fossil fuel subsidies is essential,” Sherman said. 

Emily Červenka, MSc ’22, was one of Sherman’s partners in organizing the event.  

“We realized that there were […] people interested in the climate at Queen’s,” Červenka said in an interview with The Journal

Červenka added that event organizers reached out to various groups and initiatives across the Kingston community. 

“Not only did we reach out to climate movements in Kingston, but we started reaching out to local businesses, and social justice groups,” Červenka said.  

For Červenka, the climate movement is an important way to engage with young people. 

“We thought that it was important to connect the greater Kingston community to local climate action, and we put this event on as a way to engage young people who might not be as aware of this topic,” Červenka said. 

The next climate action rally will take place Oct. 7 and will revolve around clean transportation in Kingston. 

“We have a Google form where people can give us their email, and we can reach out to people for them to get involved,” Červenka said. 

“The climate movement isn’t just about the climate, it is a social justice movement […] If I only focused on the climate in later years when I had the power, it could be too late.”

Tags

climate, climate action plan, rally

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