Climate protest in Belleville at noon Friday

By Robert Champagne

BELLEVILLE – Local residents will have their chance to participate in the global climate protest movement at Belleville city hall on Friday at noon.

The Belleville protest is one of thousands taking place worldwide in the next week thanks to a campaign by Greta Thunberg. Last year, the Swedish high-school student started leaving classes on Fridays to protest in front of the Swedish parliament against climate inaction. Her movement spread across Sweden and then Europe, until thousands of students began leaving class. What Thunberg started has turned into a global movement focusing on young people taking a stand against climate inaction, and she has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Thunberg recently sailed across the Atlantic Ocean – to avoid the carbon dioxide emissions associated with flying – to make a speech to the United Nations Climate Action Summit.

In Belleville, the protest takes place Friday, with a gathering of climate activists at city hall. All local federal election candidates have been invited to attend, and they will each be allowed to give a speech to attendees.

The climate-change protest is being organized by Kristen Parks, who is also the campaign manager for Stephanie Bell, the New Democratic Party candidate in the Oct. 21 federal election.

Parks said she wants Friday’s protest in Belleville and a similar one planned for Sept. 27 Trenton to start a conversation about climate change among local residents.

“This is a climate emergency and it is something that needs to be addressed now,” she said, adding that it is something politicians at all levels need to be held accountable for.

Climate change shouldn’t be a partisan issue, Parks said.

“I think this is something that we all have to be on the same page (about). This isn’t a political issue – it can’t be. And there (are) people from different political parties that are coming out to this that agree (on) the issue … It’s science; it’s based on science.”