Carrying signs and chanting, thousands turned out in Toronto for Friday’s climate strike rally at Queen’s Park (photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)
September 27, 2019
By Tina Adamopoulos
Tens of thousands of Canadians took to the streets Friday to call for action on climate change – part of a series of climate strikes that took place in cities around the world.
The strikes were inspired by 16-year-old Greta Thunberg and her sit-ins outside Sweden’s parliament. Thunberg, who led the rally in Montreal on Friday, was recently invited to speak at the UN Climate Summit where she delivered an impassioned speech that chastised political leaders for not treating climate change as a true global emergency.
“You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words,” Thunberg said.
Yet, while governments have a crucial role to play, many are no doubt asking themselves a version of the following questions: How can we respond to climate change as average citizens? How do we continue to do our part to slow it down?
U of T News asked University of Toronto experts Bill Gough, a professor of environmental science at U of T Scarborough, and Matthew Hoffmann, a professor of political science who is cross-appointed to U of T Scarborough’s department of physical and environmental sciences, for their opinion on where we go from here.