Reweaving the Web

Here are some inspiring stories about people young and old who are working to protect Earth and its inhabitants in the face of climate change.

Nature Represented

Ecuador was the first country to grant rights to nature under fundamental primary law.  Nature Represented allows lawyers around the world to donate hours to legally represent and protect elements of nature in Ecuador.  Check out this video:

Students Inspire Climate Emergency Declaration

Seven students from Camilla Road Senior Public School in Mississauga made a deputation to Mississauga City Council in June of 2019.   With the support of their Eco Club and teachers, the students decided to focus on a climate emergency declaration to help current and future city councils to commit to take effective action.  The council unanimously voted to declare a climate emergency.  The students took turns making the presentation.  Their names are Luxmeena Arulanantham, Aliza Baig, Ksenia Chmurzynski, Sophia DeGraaf, Omnea Fakhri, Siyona Rathore and Kiran Suresh. 

The council will release a climate plan later this year with concrete actions to reduce carbon emissions. (Finding Solutions, David Suzuki Foundation, Fall 2019)

Youth Take Canada to Court

\Photo: Robin Loznak via Our Children’s Trust)

The David Suzuki Foundation is supporting fifteen young people aged 7 to 19 years in age who have filed a lawsuit in the Federal Court of Canada in October 2019.  The youth are from seven provinces and one territory and are Indigenous and non-Indigenous. 

 “They’re alleging that the federal government causes, contributes to and allows dangerous levels of greenhouse gas emissions and is responsible for the specific individualized climate change impacts they are experiencing.” (Finding Solutions, David Suzuki Foundation, Fall 2019)

These young people are supported by the David Suzuki Foundation, Pacific Centre for Environmental Law and Litigation and Our Children’s Trust.  They are represented by law firms Arvay Finlay LLP and Tollefson Law Corporation.

This case will take the Canadian youth climate movement into the courts.  The suit aims to change how we are governed, our economies and to protect and preserve a livable climate for generations to come.

In each of these cases, people are working together across geographical boundaries, age differences, and cultural differences toward the common goal of protecting our home.  Perhaps, the separation and alienation that has created the problems we are experiencing are being rewoven as people form relationships in order to tackle the problem.  Perhaps, the fact that the problem is so big is the impetus for us to relearn the importance of interconnectedness and relationship.