Parry Sound joins Global Day of Climate Action
The Climate Action Parry Sound Federal petition is available, until Thursday closing time, to be signed at White Squall, Georgian Bay Whole Foods, Ogiimaa Cafe, and Pollard’s IDA (ask at the pharmacy counter). Contractors can also find the petition in the lunch rooms at RONA and McNabb’s Home Building Centre.
Friday September 25th will be the 80th week of demonstrations by Climate Action Parry Sound. Also happening that day is the Global Day of Climate Action by Fridays for Future.
Climate Action Parry Sound began in March 2019 as an idea of Parry Sounder Frank Thompson who wanted to do something to support Greta Thunberg and her Fridays For Future school strikes. Frank planned to sit outside Norm Miller and Tony Clement’s offices on James Street and bring attention to the climate crisis unfolding the world over. Greta Thunberg had begun a global movement at the age of 15 by leaving school to sit outside the Swedish Parliament every Friday. She felt there was no point going to school if she didn’t have a future. Frank could not sit back and let our young people shoulder this burden alone. A group of Parry Sound friends and supporters began to join Frank every Friday from 11:30 until 1:30 outside the local constituency offices.
A petition was started addressed to the Legislature of Ontario asking for our government to take serious action to mitigate climate change. That petition was presented to MPP Norm Miller on November 15th, 2019. and read in the Ontario legislature on December 3, 2019. In the summer of 2019 a similar petition addressed to the House of Commons/Federal government was begun. 850 signatures were added and a plan was made to present this petition to our MP in April coinciding with other Global Actions during Earth Week. As we all know that plan was curtailed by Covid 19. Now the plan is to have 1000 signatures before September 25th. Anyone who hasn’t signed and would like to please contact climateactionparrysound@gmail.com or check their website, www.climateactionparrysound.org The wording of the petition is as follows:
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TO The House of Commons: –
WHEREAS the Government of Canada has signed the 2015 Paris agreement to keep the increase in global average temperature to well below 2° above preindustrial levels, and to pursue efforts to limit the increase to 1.5°; and WHEREAS the Government has since declared a national climate emergency upon becoming aware of the dire consequences in wildfires, flooding and permafrost-melting even at the present increase of only 1°; and WHEREAS climate change is being caused by the accumulated emissions of developed countries for two centuries, yet it disproportionately impacts the poorest people and poorest countries with the least responsibility and fewest resources to mitigate or adapt;
WE the undersigned petition the Government of Canada as follows: –
WE ASK the Government of Canada to immediately focus all its actions through the lens of the declared climate emergency so as to assure that we do more than our strictly numerical share to avoid reaching a 1.5° global temperature increase; and WE ASK the Government to proactively communicate the urgency and fairness of this responsibility to its citizens as it would in a state of war, considering the stakes are as high, or higher.
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The group has continued to maintain a weekly presence in the street and eventually moved to the lawn at the Mary Street Center. Signs have been placed on the lawn every Friday at 11:30 as well as several Shoe Strikes have been held. Shoe Strikes were also an initiative of Fridays for Future who began placing shoes to represent the people who could no longer gather in large groups in public
Another group, Climate Action Muskoka, also holds climate protests every Friday in Bracebridge and Huntsville.
At 9:30 am on September 25th a Covid responsible gathering will be held on the lawn at the Mary Street Center for Community (St. James United Church, corner of James and Mary Street in Parry Sound). At that time the petition to the House of Commons will be presented to MP Scott Aitchison.
Petitions are available, until Thursday closing time, to be signed at White Squall, Georgian Bay Whole Foods, Ogiimaa Cafe, and Pollard’s IDA (ask at the pharmacy counter). Contractors can also find the petition in the lunch rooms at RONA and McNabb’s Home Building Centre.
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