Climate activist Greta Thunberg announces plans to visit Alberta
Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg addresses supporters during the rally for action on climate change on Sept. 27 in Montreal.
The world’s most famous climate activist says she’s heading for oil country.
Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swedish student who captured the world’s attention with her weekly climate strikes, said on Twitter that she is planning to visit Alberta after a few days of rest in the U.S.
There are no details on when she might arrive and what she will do while in Alberta, including whether Calgary is a stopping point.
Sara Austin, a Calgary child advocate who helped create the United Nations protocol that Thunberg used to file her complaint, said she hopes Thunberg’s visit urges Albertans to consider issues impacting youth in light of the upcoming federal election.
“The perspectives that I hear from most Canadian youth I speak to are these issues should be non-partisan. The health and well-being of our children should be something we can all support and all get behind and set aside our partisan politics and really take action for the sake of our young people,” said Austin.
“Kids represent a quarter of our population and 100 per cent of our future, so it’s really important that we listen to them.”
Austin, who is the founder and CEO of Children First Canada, said she has reached out to Thunberg for a meeting.
The provincial government hopes the young climate activist will see Alberta as a leader compared to other areas of the world.
“We trust that Ms. Thunberg will recognize Alberta’s leading human rights and environmental standards, especially in comparison to oil-producing dictatorships such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Russia, and Venezuela — which she will presumably visit next — as well as major growing emitters like China,” said the United Conservative Party spokesperson Christine Myatt.
Meanwhile, the opposition thinks Thunberg will be disappointed in the province’s leadership when it comes to climate action.
“It’s profoundly disappointing that just one year ago, (Thunberg) could have seen a nation-leading climate plan that cut emissions by 50 megatons and supported working people producing responsible oil and gas,” said New Democratic Party spokesperson Maureen Mariampillai.
“Today, she will see a government in denial, funding a $30 million attach machine to shut down the voice of the next generation demanding a clearer future,” she said. “When these youth came to our legislature, they were mocked by the Premier’s own staff who trolled them with signs in their windows rather than actually engaging them on this critical issue of climate change.”
Thousands of Edmonton students joined millions from around the world on Sept. 27 to strike for climate action at the Alberta legislature. Protesters shouted chants that took aim at Premier Jason Kenney, who did not attend the event. Meanwhile, signs in support of oil and gas were taped to legislature windows in rebuke to the protest.
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Thunberg started holding weekly climate strikes just over a year ago outside her school in Sweden. Her actions inspired a worldwide movement that has seen students from around the world following her lead.
She famously travelled across the Atlantic by sailboat earlier this year to attend a the UN’s climate action summit in late September.
Speaking at the launch of the summit, she scolded world leaders for what she perceived as inaction on addressing carbon pollution in the atmosphere.
“This is all wrong. I shouldn’t be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you?” she said during a brief address.
“You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words,” she said.
Her decision to sail instead of fly was a symbolic attempt to travel without burning fossil fuels. Since arriving in North America, she has been reportedly travelling in a Tesla Model 3 electric car, which was lent to her by Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Last week at a rally in South Dakota, Thunberg spoke out against the proposed path of the Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry crude from Alberta through Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska.
She has said she plans to keep touring the Americas on her way to a UN climate conference in Chile in December.
News of Thunberg’s pending visit to this province garnered mixed reaction on Twitter.
Alberta Liberal Party leader David Khan said it’s good that “real leadership” is coming to Alberta.
“Greta (has) a voice that we should hear here in Alberta. She represents the next generation who will have to deal with the consequences of climate change,” said Khan.
He said the current government is doing little to address carbon emissions and should be investing in oil patch research and development and green energy technologies, rather than spending $30 million on Alberta’s ‘energy war room,’ which will focus on improving the reputation of the province’s oil and gas industry and challenging what is believed to be misinformation.
“We shouldn’t be hiding from the challenges or opportunities the climate change emergency presents. Alberta can transition to a lower-carbon economy while protecting and even creating jobs,” said Khan.
– With files from Reuters and Canadian Press
Sixteen year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg listens to speakers during a climate change demonstration at the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, U.S., September 18, 2019.Calgary students are joining the Fridays for Future climate strike movement.
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