MEDIA RELEASE – NOVEMBER 4, 2021
CANDLES FOR COP 26: Activists call for Canada to join BOGA, end fossil fuel use.
THURSDAY, NOV 4, 7 – 8 PM: CANDLE LIGHTING AT MATT COHEN PARK, SPADINA AND BLOOR
Followed by a walk to Chrystia Freeland’s constituency office, 344 Bloor St. W.
On Thursday evening, Toronto climate activists will be gathering for a candle-lit vigil to send a strong message to Canadian representatives at COP26: stay focused on the Paris goal of limiting warming to 1.5C. Activists are asking Canada to explicitly commit to this goal, end fossil fuel extraction and join the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance initiated by Costa Rica and Denmark.
Climate activists will form a candlelight message: 1.5 C to underline the message: 1.5 to stay alive
‘We are at very dangerous levels of CO2 in the atmosphere, we are at a tipping point, and we need to end all expansion of oil and gas – we need to keep it in the ground’ said Lyn Adamson, Co-Chair of ClimateFast.
“Net-zero by 2050 is no assurance of a climate-safe future for our children. We must keep the focus on the actions required to meet the Paris goal of 1.5C and that means at least halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. This is the critical decade for action” Adamson said.
“We are expressing our solidarity with activists at COP 26. We are also in solidarity with 5 US youth hunger strikers for climate action, now in their 16th day of striking in Washington DC. These youth should not have to starve for their future,” said Zoe Keary-Matzner. “What’s true is this: there are people starving all over the world as a consequence of extreme weather, drought, and dislocation, and this will only get worse. The price of inaction is a future more horrible than we can contemplate. We don’t accept this. For our future, we urge everyone to stand up to the fossil fuel companies who are lobbying to delay action.”
"We’re lighting candles to signify our hope that we can create a safe climate future” said Allie Rougeot, climate activist and organizer with Fridays for Future Toronto. “Our hope is however not passive. We are fighting every day to get real climate action, which includes phasing out of fossils fuels in a just and equitable way and recognizing Indigenous Sovereignty."
Activists are calling on the government of Canada to join the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance and commit to an end to the expansion of oil and gas, an end to fossil fuel subsidies, and a just transition to a renewable energy future.
ClimateFast calls on the government of Canada to join the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance. Today. https://www.beyondoilandgasalliance.com/
Lyn Adamson, Co-Chair, ClimateFast
416-731-6605
www.climatefast.ca
Allie Rougeot - 647-920-1050 (aussi francais)