By Yvonne Lewis Langlois
“Make the Earth Cool Again “ and “Save The Earth Now for a Better Tomorrow” so read the homemade signs held by protesters. Around 60 people assembled in the IGA parking around 9:00 am on a cool September morning to take part in the March for Climate Change or Fridays for the Future. Marches have been taking place worldwide in an attempt to pressure governments to make the changes needed to halt climate change. Students of all ages from over 160 countries have been skipping school every Friday.
The Ormstown Climate march was the Chateauguay Valley’s contribution to the September 27th March for Climate Change. In Montreal Greta Thunberg, the sixteen year old activist from Sweden, who initiated this movement, hosted a crowd of over 300,000 people. The crowd gathered in Ormstown was smaller than those assembled in Montreal but the enthusiasm and commitment to climate change was not.
In Ormstown it was all about the kids. Toddlers and teenagers alike smiled and held their signs high. Police cars escorted the group in their march through the village to the gazebo in Lindsay-Cullen Park where they listened to a short speech made by Don Rosenbaum, the organizer of the event. Although this was a quieter march than those taking place in major cities around the world, the message was still clear : Take action now, before it’s too late.
