By Brittany Woodcock [1]
BELLEVILLE – Local climate activists were inspired by Albert College [2] students joining them in their demand for climate action last Friday.
Danny Celovsky [3], a local climate activist and former federal Green Party candidate, said that young people inspire his generation.
“(Young people) inspire us older people by making their voices matter,” he said. “The louder you are, the better everything is.”
“(Young people) inspire us older people by making their voices matter,” Danny Celovsky said at the protest. Photo by Kyle Ellington, QNet News
Randy Henning, a local climate activist, also talked about how happy it made him seeing young people fight for this issue.
“I’m especially happy to see all the young people. They’re going to be the most effected by climate change,” he said.
Students were just as excited to see older generations there.
Zuri Brownie, an Albert College student, spoke during the protest to tell them how much it means to her for them to be there.
“We’re so grateful to see that other people care,” she said. “When we first started (doing protests), it was maybe 10 of us outside yelling at cars. A lot of those cars didn’t know why we were doing it. Now, we’ve become a part of this community.”
But some students said there aren’t enough people joining the fight. Myron Krishntha, an Albert College student, said he came to the protest because of that reason.
“I decided to come out because it’s such a huge problem and no one is really doing anything about it,” he said. “We’re going to suffer the facts. Our children are going to suffer the facts.”
Krishntha also thinks the local government isn’t doing enough.
“Quinte isn’t doing a good enough job to help solve this issue. I think (Neil Ellis) should hear our voices and get them heard so we can actually change,” he said.
Many protestors are concerned that Belleville hasn’t declared a climate emergency like the surrounding areas. Photo by Kyle Ellington, QNet News
Celovsky agrees with those frustrations.
“We have to keep calling for action,” he said. “We’re just completing the 2010s and emissions are going up. We’ve basically pissed away another decade and now we’re completely running out of time. We need to act.”
Krishntha said that action is what will give him the future he wants to live in.
“I want to live in a future where things are okay,” he said. “That I can survive in. That my family can survive in.”