A small but passionate group of local residents gathered at Town Hall today for the first weekly Fridays for Future climate strike in Huntsville.
Climate Action Muskoka, a non-partisan group concerned about climate change in Muskoka, has been organizing climate strikes in Bracebridge for an hour every Friday since Sept. 21, 2019. A Gravenhurst climate strike began in January. The group also encourages people to create their own pop-up climate strikes wherever they are if they can’t make it to one of the organized strikes.
By the time the strike began, 16 adults, two babies, and one dog had arrived to spread their message: something needs to be done about climate change, and soon. Many carried signs to emphasize that message, and waved to supporters who honked as they drove by.
Among the strikers was Lesley Hastie.
“We are very concerned about climate change as is the great majority of Canadians,” she said in a prepared statement. “Time is running out and we all know that ignoring it doesn’t accomplish anything but people don’t know what they can do.”
Hastie acknowledged that governments need to get on board and wrote that, “…they have the power 1. to change building materials and standards, invest in infrastructure such as trains, charging stations; 2. switch to electric transit and school buses; 3. install solar panels; 4. encourage use of more heat pumps and geothermal energy and so on. 90% of electricity in Ontario comes from sources that do not emit greenhouse gases, so we should try to go electric.”
She also offered some suggestions for people who aren’t sure what individuals can do to help, citing the book Drawdown: The most comprehensive plan ever proposed to reverse global warming as a good source for those interested in learning more.
“1. Take a reusable mug to Tim Hortons (think how many disposable cups wouldn’t find their way to landfill and the savings in trees); 2. trim vegetables and put them in soup and put peelings in compost or green bins (food waste is a major problem as regards greenhouse gases); 3. grow your own vegetables or buy locally produced vegetables, and buy Ontario-made goods (that helps local people but also reduces transport, a major cause of greenhouse gases); 4. repair things rather than replacing them; 5. plant a tree to celebrate a birth or commemorate a loved one; 6. use less paper to save the trees (which absorb carbon and emit oxygen). The list is endless.”
Hastie says her climate awakening “came with photos of polar bears swimming and swimming and starving as Arctic ice melted and left them nothing to live on. Then I started joining the dots.”
She said that skeptics only need to connect the dots as well to see how the world is changing. “From fires in Parry Sound last year, to 100-year floods occurring every few years in Ontario, the Ravenscliffe Road washed out, catastrophic fires then floods in the Okanagan Valley last year, and 2019 the hottest year ever in Canada and Australia. We do know that these extreme weather events will continue regardless. But we need to reduce and absorb greenhouse gases now to make sure the overheating of the planet doesn’t reach a tipping point, with feedback loops that accelerate the process.”
The group recognizes, “…as does the UN, that climate change will hurt the poor and vulnerable the most,” said Hastie. “And there are so many people in Huntsville living in poverty, many of them children, who have no money to buy food.”
Councillor Dan Armour was also among those present for the climate strike. He was asked by strikers if Huntsville Council had declared a climate emergency yet (it has not), and if a list of the actions Huntsville has taken to decrease its effects on climate change is available (there isn’t one). He said he would raise both questions with his counterparts.
The Fridays for Future climate strikes take place every Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in front of Town Hall. Climate Action Muskoka invites all to attend.
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It’s important to be aware of climate change….that being said, I’m pretty sure that most people are. What we seem to have trouble with is how to make meaningful changes in our day-to-day lives.
Muskoka voters don’t care about the environment, which is evident by the most recent provincial and federal elections where the climate change denying Conservatives won again.
This is not a Concern in in Canada…. 80 percent of us live within th USA border….so you would think we Canadians could adjust and create alternates….. because apparently, we have over 45 of the northern hemisphere to move into…. Santa’s village I BRACEBRIDGE is at the half way to the North Pole…. and apparetntly that almost the same level as Boston…..Really??
Not to many years ago scientist were yelling we are running out of oil don’t remember the year then it was we are heading into a mini ice age the list goes on and on scientist’s are educated but they all seem to have their own take on what is going to happen. So now they want us to trust them sorry not this old man.
Now as an old man almost 80 I have seen a few winters years ago that would freeze the whole brass monkey so there is no doubt i my mind things are getting warmer but the funny thing is I remember my grandmother saying to me I don’t know why your complaining about the cold, winter is no where near as bad now as when I was young. So back in the early 1900’s why was it getting warmer there was not much oil or gas being used for anything. Now go back to when Canada was first settled and see how bad the winter was when the great lakes froze over and the eastern U.S. had lots of snow there is a lot more at play here than the burning of fossil fuel.
You folks need to get your facts straight re the deceasing population of polar bears. I was in the James Bay area last year and asked a Cree if this was true and he said no the population is actually increasing. The National Geo was taken to task about the fake story of the polar bear on the ice flow. Research the findings from UBC study and WWF. Facts are our friends.
As a side note, our building has solar, we recycle and minimize plastic so in a small way we’re on board, But our propane charges for carbon tax alone is budgeted for an extra $1,250 this year.
Get sensible about what your group hopes to accomplish.
I don’t understand why these events are called “strikes”. And I don’t understand the goal of these events, as it would be difficult indeed to bring the topic of climate change any further forward than it already is; we are bombarded with its messages daily, on multiple fronts, ad nauseam. I think these strikes rank right up there with prayer as pretty much “the least we could do”, as I am not sure what, if anything, either activity could be expected to ultimately accomplish.
It’s always so interesting how the “purity” putdown is applied to anyone who dares to speak up on any issue. Climate activists do not have to own EVs to have permission to ask that EVs be made more accessible. These folks have obviously read the science and are very concerned about where we are headed. They don’t have to be scientists to listen to the scientists! They know everyone must do their part. Read the science and join them on the street.
I’m always surprised at the hostility that this topic consistently generates. These people who are out raising awareness on this are sincerely trying to improve the outlook for our planet. And us. I think this puts them on “our side”. This should not be an adversarial relationship. So, thanks people for trying to do something positive for all of us. (And for trying to get the rest of us to something positive for ourselves.)
Sorta’ makes ‘ya think of good ol’ King Canute.
Go electric that’s the dumbest thing I’ve heard. Might save the planet but everyone will go broke. When i heated with ekectric i was paying $650/month now on gas I’m paing $300. Who is going to pay the difference? I can’t afford it.
I believe that Ontario’s non-carbon electricity comes from hydro and nuclear with solar and wind gaining in percentage. One plus for our province is the decision to shut coal-fired generation ( made way back in the last century). I believe that we still use natural gas as the ” not-as-bad” alternative to coal.
To be blunt, your “for what its worth” opinion, Ray, is not worth much. Neither is mine. Both of us are without the training or expertise to evaluate the complex interplay of nature throughout the world and how humans have effected the balance. Forgive me if your doctorate is in environmental science but I’m guessing not. Mine either.
I suggest that, as we rely on aeronautical engineers to figure out if our airplane will stay up, we rely on the science experts to explain the interactions and direction of our climate. On the cause for alarm and call for immediate action, there is virtual agreement in the scientific community.
That said, it is getting harder and harder to not see the results of what the science tells us even here in Muskoka. As Ms. Hastie points out, the proof of the science is right in front of us now.
We can try to explain it away as not human-induced but, if we are expressing an unsubstantiated opinion, it ain’t worth the breath. And I won’t fly in an airplane that you or I built either.
I would like to know where the information came from that 90% of our power is generated from non carbon producing generation.. And right now we don’t generate enough power to supply us so where is it going to come from if we go electric. I wonder just how many of the people striking about this drive electric cars and heat there home with electric. Or are they just saying the rest of us should be doing this anyone looked at the increase in your hydro bill the last few months all the time of use times have almost doubled. If it keeps going no one will be able to charge there cars if they can afford to buy one in the first place. My opinion for what it’s worth is the world has been heating up for thousands of years and will keep doing it until north america is all tropical like it was when the dinosaurs roamed around. I for one am happy that it’s been getting warmer because if it wasn’t Ontario would still be under ten or so feet of ice wonder where the carbon came from to start the ice melting in the first place.