FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
November 30th 2018
MP FILLMORE’S OFFICE FLOODED BY YOUTH DEMANDING BOLD ACTION AT CLIMATE TALKS
K’jpuktuk (Halifax) — Young people in Halifax crowded into MP Andy Fillmore’s office as part of a widespread sit-in for bold climate action. “Youth are taking action because the recent UN climate report has given the world 12 years to act, and this Liberal government is failing to take adequate steps to prevent climate disaster. During the UN climate negotiations, which start on Monday, they have an opportunity to course correct,” says Laura Cutmore, an organizer with Youth Rising and a member of Divest Dal. Organizers are asking MP Andy Fillmore to read out the following demands in the House of Commons to push government negotiators to represent youth voices at the talks:
- Transition to 100% renewable energy by 2030, and create one million climate jobs in the process;
- Fully implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples;
- Keep fossil fuels in the ground and align the federal climate plan with the 1.5 degree threshold;
- Ban drilling offshore Nova Scotia, stop the proposed Goldboro LNG terminal, and stop the Alton Gas natural gas storage project.
“We’re far from the only people calling for this kind of dramatic action on climate change. Locally we saw about 40 organizations and 200 individuals sign the 2030 Declaration which calls for massive reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and a justice-based transition to community-owned renewable energy. Water protectors across Mi’kma’ki are fighting to stop fossil fuel projects like Alton Gas, ” says Cutmore.
Dale Poulette, Mi’kmaq land defender working to stop the Alton Gas storage facility says, “Our work is to protect everyone, settlers and Indigenous people on Mi’kma’ki from the dangerous substances that Alton Gas wants to place on our land. We are protecting the land and water for the next seven generations.”
“It will be young people who will live with the devastating consequences of this government’s inaction. Our elected leaders must act with courage, or step aside,” says Cutmore.
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Youth Rising is a collective of young people from coast to coast who are concerned with how climate change is impacting people around the world, and what it means for our generation and future generations.
Contact:
Laura Cutmore
laura.k.cutmore@gmail.com
To demand justice for us, our planet and future generations contact Halifax MP Andy Fillmore at 902-426-8691 or via email at andy.fillmore@parl.gc.ca.
#YouthRising #NotOurYouthMinister
Students are sitting in MP Andy Fillmore’s office today to call for bold climate action at the upcoming climate negotiations in Poland, starting Monday. Photo credit: Youth Rising.
