Photos: High School Students Stage Protest For Climate Action
/Students from Peterborough Alternative & Continuing Education (PACE) staged a walkout from school and protested to spread awareness about climate change as part of a movement named “Fridays for Future” at Confederation Park on Friday.
Photo by Luke Best.
The students were part of the Youth Leadership in Sustainability program held in partnership with Trent University.
Aisling MacQuarrie,16, is a Thomas A. Stewart Secondary School student who is taking Youth Leadership in Sustainability. A program that prepares grade 11 and 12 students for leadership roles in sustainability initiatives at the local and global levels. Photo by Luke Best.
“In 2019, the city announced a climate crisis and they also committed to reducing greenhouse gases by 40 per cent by 2031. We're here to remind them of that promise and make sure they're upholding and making actions to get there,” said Aisling MacQuarrie, grade 11 student. “We wanted to try to make more of a difference in our community.”
Fridays for Future is a youth-led global climate strike movement that started in August 2018 when then 15-year-old Greta Thunberg began a school strike for the climate.
For three weeks leading up to the election, she sat outside Swedish Parliament every school day, demanding action on the climate crisis.
Mayor Diane Therrien encouraged the students in their protest and movement before heading to the Peterborough Environmental and Climate Action Expo (EnviroX). Photo by Luke Best.
