News Desk :
Thousands of youth took to the Scottish city of Glasgow on Friday to protest lack of action by leaders at the COP26 climate summit.
Led by their teenaged heroine Greta Thunberg, they marched through the streets of Glasgow to press for more action from COP26 on climate change, report new agencies.
The demonstrators weaved their way through the city centre en route to George Square where Ms. Thunberg, 18, and others were expected to speak at an afternoon rally.
There was a festive-like atmosphere and the crowd included with many young children and couples pushing baby carriages. At one point on the route a group of about two dozen elementary school children held up hand-made signs and chanted “Stop climate change.”
Youth activists shout slogans as they march to protest against climate inaction on the sidelines of the COP26 UN Climate Summit in Glasgow.
The march was organized by Friday for Future, a youth-led movement inspired by Ms. Thunberg’s silent protest outside the Swedish parliament in 2018. Her action caused a global sensation and motivated a new generation of climate activists. “This is a really powerful
show of the people’s fight for climate justice,” said Aliya Hirji, a high-school student from Toronto who joined the march and belongs to Friday for Future in Canada. “As a young person I’m always trying to remain optimistic and hopeful because this is my future on the line. I can’t resort to feeling a sense of doom because then I won’t act. But it’s really hard.”
Ms. Hirji has been an observer at COP26 this week and she has found the experience frustrating. “I’ve been blocked from a lot of conference rooms,” she said. “I’ve had world leaders just turn their backs on me and walk away as I’m trying speak. It’s been really frustrating. It’s hard to expect an equitable outcome when COP itself is inequitable.”
Glenn Wright and his wife, Shannon, who run a farm near Saskatoon, came to support the Friday for Future cause. “They are getting more attention now than any of the other activists,” said Mr. Wright who has been attending COP as part of a National Farmers Union delegation. “Greta really has started a huge movement.”
Ms. Wright said the couple have also been inspired by their two children. “It’s about the future and that’s what our kids represent. That’s why we’re here for sure,” she said as she held up a Canadian flag. Ms. Wright, who is also a COP26 delegate, has found the conference difficult. “There are times when I have been brought to tears,” she said. “Some of it is pretty depressing. It’s hard to stay optimistic but I think we have to for our children.”
Joining them was Sadie Vipond, a 15-year old student from Calgary who has been involved in a lawsuit against the federal government over climate change. The suit alleges Ottawa has failed to adequately protect the future of young Canadians. The group suffered a set back recently when judge dismissed the case because it was too broad. However, Ms. Vipond said they have filed an appeal.
“We’re suing them because they have not adequately done enough to protect youth against the effects of climate change,” she explained as she lined up with her father, Joe Vipond, and other marchers. “Everyone involved in the case has been affected by climate change. Personally I was evacuated due to the 2013 Calgary flood. And the smoke that drifts over Calgary every summer is very detrimental. Basically we are asking for a science-based recovery plan.”
Inside the conference venue, negotiators’ goal on Friday was to get countries to promise to cut greenhouse-gas emissions and avert a rise in the average global temperature of 1.5 degrees compared with preindustrial levels. Scientists say this is a tipping point: Beyond it, the world will face far more extreme weather events. Throughout the week, various governments have pledged to phase out coal, slash their methane output or reduce deforestation.
The British president of COP26 acknowledged on Friday that much more needed to be done to secure more ambitious commitments to stop the world’s slide into climate catastrophe, urging national negotiators to step up the pace. “It is not possible for a large number of unresolved issues to continue into week 2,” Alok Sharma said in a note published by the United Nations.
Delegates from nearly 200 countries are in Glasgow to hammer out how to meet the Paris Agreement goals of limiting temperature rises to between 1.5 and 2 degrees Celsius.
Twenty nations including the United States and Canada promised to end overseas fossil fuel funding by the end of 2022.
And over 40 countries pledged to phase out coal – the most polluting fossil fuel – although details were vague and a timeline for doing so not disclosed.
The promises followed a major assessment that showed global CO2 emissions are set to rebound in 2021 to pre-pandemic levels.
Thunberg herself was not impressed, tweeting after the twin announcements: “This is no longer a climate conference. This is a Global North greenwash festival.”
