Climate activists will march in Huntsville this weekend to advocate an end to fossil fuels.
Climate Action Muskoka, Climate Action Parry Sound, and Almaguin Climate Action will join similar marches around the world at 1:30 p.m. on Sept. 17.
Tamsen Tillson with Climate Action Muskoka says they’re expecting upwards of 50 people to march from G8 Flag Park to River Mill Park on Sunday.
“What we’re doing with the Almaguin group and the Parry Sound group is we all try to work collaboratively as much as possible,” says Tillson. “So, part of it is education, awareness-raising, and just trying to get everybody working together to try and create a future that we can all live with and that our children will be safe.”
According to Tillson, it comes ahead of a United Nations summit on Sept. 20 where countries can only participate by providing “tangible action” to keep fossil fuels in the ground.
Tillson says marchers are hoping to send that message to municipal leaders, as well as encourage ordinary citizens to do what they can to tackle climate change. That could include taking shorter showers, lowering your thermostat, and minimizing packaging, but she notes the big changes need to come from the top.
“We can’t solve these issues on our own—we need to work as a society and we need to have our governments working with us in a way that doesn’t leave anybody behind,” says Tillson. “These are big asks, and they’re going to take everybody working together. We’re just trying to keep that out there, because it’s not going to go away unfortunately.”
Tillson says there will be no road closures for the march as participants will stay on the sidewalks, and they’ll have people on hand to make sure people can cross the street safely.
“I think we’re going to have a few people with orange vests just to make sure there’s no traffic blockage or anything like that,” says Tillson. “Everything we do is peaceful. We’re just trying to raise awareness and get everybody on the same page as much as we can.”
Tillson invites any interested community members to join and bring their own signs. With the Terry Fox run happening the same day, she adds they don’t want to detract from that.
“We’re hoping that people will do the Terry Fox Run in the morning and then come out for this climate march in the afternoon,” says Tillson. “They can walk to stretch it out after the run,” she jokes.