While thousands of demonstrators marched in the streets of New York City to demand action on climate change hundreds in Edmonton also rallied to support the cause.
Organizers of The People’s Climate March Edmonton said they were looking for the Canadian government to start investing in renewable energy.
“We really want them to move forward with sustainability, renewable resources. We want the federal government, Stephen Harper, to do something about this,” event facilitator Stephanie Wilson told CTV News.
“He should be a leader for all Canadians. He shouldn’t be fiddling around with the different opportunities that he has with corporations.”
Wilson said she was disappointed that Harper would not be at the UN climate summit in New York this week.
It was a sentiment that Mike Hudema from Greenpeace Canada echoed.
“Climate change is affecting people all over the globe right now. It has the potential to end life on our planet if not addressed. The fact that our Prime Minster can’t find the time to be there is a national disgrace.”
Harper isn’t the only leader opting out of the event, where leaders will discuss climate policy, but will not make any legally-binding agreements.
A list of speakers provided by the UN shows that leaders from China, India, Russia, Australia and Germany are also sending other government officials in their place.
Regardless, Hudema pointed out that UN climate chief, Christiana Figueres, said three-quarters of fossil fuels need to stay in the ground.
“A lot of tar sands projects simply can’t go ahead if we are going to address this global crisis," he said.
However, Hudema also said he was hopeful that things were going to change.
“Already things are changing and countries are already starting to take action.
“It is just Canada and a group of other countries that are really holding back progress and that is what we need to change.”
Edmontonian Neil Lizotte runs a website that focuses on eco-inventions and agreed that it was time the government start looking to other energy sources.
“We have eco-friendly technologies that will soon be replacing fossil fuels. I think it is a waste of time and money to be making pipelines and increasing fossil fuel uses when we know that we have to lower our emissions not increase them.
“We're investing billions of dollars into fossil fuels and they are getting us in trouble - serious, serious trouble - and yet we are investing pennies in inventions that can replace them,” he added.
Wilson said she believed things would change as citizens became educated on the issue.
“Climate change in general is a really huge subject and people should be more aware of what is happening in a global basis and in a local basis because there has been so much that people don’t know about.”
With files from Nicole Weisberg, Emily Chan
