Gathered on the beautiful green grass of Fairy Lake Park’s playground with the sun beating down, several concerned mothers and their children began writing.
They started penning letters to Newmarket-Aurora MPP Dawn Gallagher-Murphy about climate change.
“We’re out here to inspire our children to take action because they’re the ones who are going to be impacted the most by climate change,” said Pamela Vega, founder of Mothers Marching, a non-profit made up of parents and caregivers concerned for their children’s future. “As their caregivers, we need to speak up for them and their future.”
The plan is to march from along Yonge Street from Davis Drive to Gallagher-Murphy’s office at Mulock Drive on Sept. 17, the global day of action to end fossil fuels, to deliver the letters asking for the provincial government to take greater climate action.
“We want to get involved and show the government that this is something that we’re worried about and think they need to take more action on,” said Vega. “We want the politicians to hear from the people who are going to be most affected by climate change. They need to hear from the kids themselves and hopefully that will help push the point home that this needs to be addressed right now.”
They are focusing on three primary action demands, the first of which is protecting the Greenbelt.
They would like to see the government strengthen provincial legislation that ensures the Greenbelt is protected from development and immediately implement the recommendations of the auditor general’s special report on the changes to the Greenbelt.
The other two areas of focus are transitioning to sustainable energy and protecting water.
They want the government to halt plans to construct new fossil fuel-based energy projects and expand existing natural gas plants, specifically the York Energy Centre, and strengthen provincial legislation that ensures water sources are protected, specifically, strengthen source water protections for Lake Ontario and Lake Simcoe.
“We’ll go down to her office and deliver the letters, we hope she meets us there,” said Vega. “By us marching down Yonge Street, we’re hoping it will raise more awareness about climate change and get others to feel inspired to also take action.”
Vega said the group hopes to show that this isn’t something that just environmentalists are concerned about because it will impact everyone.
“We need to all take action on this and become more politically active with it,” she said.
“You see so much pollution all over the place,” added another parent in attendance. “You see it all over the news and you feel it… the climate is changing everywhere and we need to do something. It’s our call of duty with having little ones to step up and do something to stop it.”
Another aspect of the letter writing and march is showcasing the importance of educating children at an early age of the impacts of climate change, said Vega.
“It’s gotten to the point where it’s hard not to talk to your children about it,” she said. “This summer we had to stay inside for many days because of the air quality from the wildfires. It’s something that’s unfortunately part of their day-to-day life now.”
As eco-anxiety builds, Vega and the other parents in attendance agreed it’s not an easy conversation to have with their children, but it’s a necessary one as climate change continues to be felt.
“The better we prepare this generation for what’s coming and what they can do about it will help to mitigate that level of eco-anxiety,” said one parent. “It’s impacting young children already and that’s why the term eco-anxiety exists in the first place. We need to show them that they can do something about it though and demand action.”
At the end of the day, the mothers who gathered feel strongly that the more people who get involved and hold their local politicians accountable, the more they’ll be able to combat eco-anxiety in the youth.
“If we get these kids to take part earlier, it really helps their own mental health too,” said Vega. “More and more people are suffering from eco-anxiety and if you take action, it can really help.”
