Youth in Halifax participate in global rally for climate change

First at Five: Call for Change Youth across the globe took to the streets demanding climate justice – including in the Maritimes.

HALIFAX — Youth across the world are sounding the alarm on climate change, adding their voices to a global call for action.

On Friday, millions of young people in many large cities came together in a student-led global strike on climate action.

"We're the generation that's going to be able to change this, and I think Barack Obama said something about that we are the first generation to find out the real effects of climate change, and we're the last generation to be able to do something about it," says Meghan Oliver, a university student.

Young people are worried about their future.

"We saw wildfires over the summer, we saw droughts, we saw floods. Climate change is here and we need leaders who actually step up unequivocally," says Gretchen Fitzgerald of Sierra Club Canada Foundation.

Environmental organizations say governments need to treat the climate crisis with the same seriousness as the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We all watch the vaccination rates in Nova Scotia very quickly. I want to hear the (greenhouse gas) rate reduction every single week from this government federally and provincially," says Fitzgerald.

Event organizers say hundreds of people attended a rally in Halifax on Friday. Large numbers were also present in cities around the world, like Rome and Berlin.

On Thursday, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson told world leaders at the UN General Assembly in New York it’s time to grow up and take hold of climate change.

While it's a start, youth say the clock is ticking and governments need to seek solutions before natural disasters increase and the global temperature rises even higher.

Organizers say until they see changes from all three levels of government, they'll continue to hold events as they work to make a difference and create change.