Bringing climate change to government

On Oct. 24, the International Day of Climate Action “fill the hill” campaign will be taking over Parliament Hill, in Ottawa from 12 to 3:30 p.m. It is believed that this year’s Climate Day (C-Day) will be the largest climate action to ever take place on Canadian soil in history.

Dozens of buses from many parts of eastern Canada including Guelph, Montreal, Sherbrook, Halifax, Kingston and Peterborough will be rolling into Canada’s capital city to show support. The crowd will consist of all individuals of all ages.

Gracen Johnson, 20- year-old University of Guelph student and founder of C-Day, has been involved in environmental advocacy her entire life. “It’s something that needed to be done,” stresses Johnson.

“We have an opportunity to make a difference, make our voices heard, not only that, it’s imperative that we do,” she added.

According to The David Suzuki Foundation, today’s atmosphere contains 32 per cent more carbon dioxide than it did at the start of the industrial era. Levels of methane and carbon dioxide are the highest they have been in nearly half a million years. With this being noted, climate change is rapidly approaching its final limit, meaning when it is reached, there is little we can do about this issue.

Johnson explained that “raising awareness and understanding of the climate crisis, [is] the most important aspect of the event.”

She discussed the importance of MP’s being aware that there is support from the people regarding climate change. For Johnston seeing this issue being integrated into different political party campaigns would be ideal.

With so much hard work and dedication into this national project, Johnson hopes her goal of making climate change an election issue will be heard and action will be taken.

Doing an environmental project of this scale, Johnson is only feeling good about it.

“It’s surreal, I don’t really know how to describe it, it’s changed my life and changed my world,” she said.