INTERVIEW
THE POWER AND PROMISE OF THE YOUTH-LED GLOBAL CLIMATE MOVEMENT
INTERVIEWS BY KIM FRY I
was a middle school student in the late 80s when Earth Day was revived and young people started getting more ac- tive around environmental issues. Growing up along the St. Lawrence River in a polluted, industrial city, I jumped into environmental activism feet first. Although there were other youth interested in these issues and I was blessed with
some adult supporters and mentors (including my neighbour and founder of the St. Lawrence River Institute for Environmental Sci- ences, Dr. Brian Hickey), it was sometimes a lonely path. Since the Earth Summit in 1992, many people, young and old,
around the world have worked on environmental issues and the climate crisis in myriad ways. Youth have long been at the centre of the movement. When I was part of the official Environmental Non- Governmental Organizations delegation to the 2005 United Nations Climate Conference in Montreal, the youth delegates were passion- ately and creatively pushing government officials to be bold and ambitious. This has been true of the many yearly COPS (climate conferences) around the world where governments adopt the Kyoto Protocol or the Paris targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. But little changes and emissions increase. As a teacher and mom to a 17-year-old and 3-year-old, I have
been in awe of the younger generation and their political sophistica- tion. I think this generation’s strong sense of justice in part reflects the fact that teachers in Ontario and around the world are increas-
ingly prioritizing environmental, social justice and Indigenous education. Whatever the reasons for their deep political understand- ing and strong sense of what is right, there has been fertile ground for rapid growth of a global student climate strike movement kicked off by Greta Thunberg in August of 2018. I interviewed three young climate justice activists based in
Ontario. Sophia Mathur was one of the first young people on the planet to join the Fridays for Future movement. She is a 12-year-old student in Sudbury who is part of a group of youth who are suing Premier Doug Ford over his inaction on climate change. Alienor Rougeot coordinates the Toronto Fridays for Future
protests. She is 20 years old and a third year economics and public policy student at the University of Toronto. Cricket Guest is a 20-year-old Algonquin Anishnaabekwe Metis
activist who grew up in a small town an hour outside Ottawa on unceded Algonquin territory. She is currently based in Toronto and works with Fridays for Future Toronto as the Indigenous outreach coordinator.
E ELEMENTARY TEACHERS’ FEDERATION OF ONTARIO 21
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