Young climate activists worry over future

| 23/09/2019 | 36 Comments
Cayman News Service
Protesters at the Sunset Climate Strike

(CNS): Dozens of adults joined the younger generation on Friday evening for the Sunset Climate Strike in George Town. The teenage organisers from Protect Our Future focused on the specific threat to the harbour from the port project, on a day where millions of people around the world protested the lack of action on climate change. Dejea Lyons (16), one of the leaders of the local campaign, said she is very worried that the government here is not listening but it is her generation that will suffer.

Lyons told CNS that she and her fellow teenage activists are very frustrated that they will not be able to vote in the upcoming referendum. “If I could I would vote ‘no’ a thousand times,” she said, adding that she was convinced that if teenage students could vote, 90% of them would also say no to the project

As one of the leaders of Protect our Future, an organisation which has gathered momentum in very short period of time, Lyons is passionate about conserving the natural beauty of her home. But the campaign has seen many local young people get involved in the goal to raise awareness about the environment and what is being lost, which will have a detrimental impact on their generation.

The decision by the young people to use the global action day on climate change to focus on the cruise port project is because of the specific impact the loss of so much irreplaceable marine habitat will have on them. Lyons said that the young people need “the adults that can vote to hear us”, as she noted that they “will be the ones that are going to be clearing up the mess” they leave behind. “But I am really worried that government just isn’t listening to the people,” she said.

While the students spearheaded the event, which attracted hundreds of people, other activists groups linked to environmental and conservation issues also turned out for the ‘sunset strike’, which took place on South Church Street. Demonstrators waved signs urging government to keep its hands off the ‘Queen’s bottom’, a reference to the sea bed, among many other messages. Passing drivers showed overwhelming support to the demonstration by honking horns constantly throughout the protest.

This local demonstration took place on a day when all over the world, from tiny Pacific islands already on the front-line of sea-level rise to major cities, protesters called on world leaders to act now. The Global Climate Strike is believed to have involved more than four million people worldwide and came ahead of today’s UN Climate Action Summit in New York.

On Sunday the World Meteorological Organization published new data confirming that 2014-19 is the warmest five-year period on record.

But as he opened the summit, UN Secretary General António Guterres said recent action by some countries and businesses, as well as the stunning rise of the youth climate movement, gave him hope that international goals to avoid catastrophic global heating could be met.

“I see a new momentum,” Guterres said, adding that last few months had been a turning point. He said that six months ago he was “quite pessimistic”, but now he saw a lot of movement and he expected “very meaningful” climate commitments to be made by countries during the summit.


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Category: Climate Change, Science & Nature

Comments (36)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    And Cayman bats are nearly extinct because 2 legged creatures decided to make money off their natural habitat, the caves. 🦇🦇

  2. Bertie : B says:

    I would rather see the young people take up this cause , rather than playing video games and gang wars . We came out for the Vietnam war , the old people ( which I am now ) beat us with batons and tear gas and arrests , but in the end we stopped the war . To bad MR trump wasn’t out there with us as his bone spurs in his feet where debilitating and made him stay in bed with models . Surely he would have become a five star General .

  3. Anonymous says:

    When these people can do without their air conditioning, airplane travel, televisions and cars, then they can go out their and wave their posters. Instead they focus on straws! Give me a break.

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  4. Anonymous says:

    In a dinosaur suit made of plastic.

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  5. Ron Ebanks says:

    Yes the younger and older generation better get seriously involved in climate change issue because there’s many things that are going to be a big threat to everyone in the near future .

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    • Anonymous says:

      Here you go, here is your involment! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9KxE4Kv9A8

      https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/09/23/watch-frustrated-mom-says-twerking-climate-activists-made-her-children-late-for-school/

      CNS:
      Breitbart is not a news site, it is far-right nationalist propaganda. Much of its funding comes from the Mercers, who also largely own Cambridge Analytica.

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      • Anonymous says:

        What is particularly important to note, from an anti environment propaganda perspective, is the symbiotic relationship between Breitbart / Steve Bannon/ Koch & the Mercers.

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      • Anonymous says:

        OMG, imagine being so clueless that you cite Breitbart News stories. Sad.

      • Anonymous says:

        Kind of like SNOPES is a far-left paid propagandist for the DNC that is designed to defend anything bad on the left, like that you mean?

        CNS: Extremists, left and right, make stuff up, Snopes debunks it. So, no, not the same. And no, it is not “a far-left paid propagandist for the DNC”. See here.

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      • Anonymous says:

        There is nothing wrong with being proud of your country. Nationalism or patriotism is a noble trait. Cultural identities are a very important facet of our lives. All countries have borders and legal entry requirements.

        If someone moved into your house just because they could, you’d be pissed off too.

        I am sure that all news site operators have their own political leanings which will come out in their writing.

        CNS are most definitely left leaning and some of their opinions could also be construed as propaganda from someone on the right.

        In closing, as a planet, we all share it, left and right together. I am sure decent right wing folk don’t like pollution, nor decent left wingers and the center people too.

        Perhaps we can work together? Let us base our opinions on solid, scientific facts and not rabid dislikes for the sake of it.

        I don’t care whether you are left or right, just tell the truth and let’s stop avoiding the important issues especially the systemic corruption and ineptitude in government, left and right.

        Fair play to CNS, they have served he people very well with their reporting on the port project.

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  6. Anonymous says:

    it seems that majority who comment here confuse climate change with global warming only. The two terms mean different things and refer to two different physical phenomena. As the name suggests, ‘global warming’ refers to the long-term trend of a rising average global temperature. Climate change refers to changes in precipitation patterns, increased prevalence of droughts, heat waves, and other extreme weather. Both negatively affects physical, biological and human systems and feed each other back and increase their magnitudes. Every life supporting ecosystem is affected.

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  7. Oh Snap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1111111111111111111111111111111111111 says:

    bare soviet disinformation tactics in this comment section against the youth, shame it’s not valid because you’re anonymous – OH SNAP!

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  8. Anonymous says:

    Make sure your family is educated about liars too and thrives of the youths wonder years! So sad to see technology spread such lies. If we do anything to stop global warming we need to pass out condoms.

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    • Anonymous says:

      This is absolutely the one measure which would impact most on our ability to live within the resources of this planet. All the electric cars and plant based diets in the world (whilst a good effort on an individual level to attempt to mitigate changes) won’t do a thing if our global population continues to rise.

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  9. Anonymous says:

    Maybe some of the honkerseere simply warning protesters to lookout for approaching traffic.

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  10. Anonymous says:

    I could probably convince a group of youngsters to go out there and protest bananas if I gave the right talk. The young can be heavily influenced, next month they will be protesting Vape and Juul pods.

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  11. BeaumontZodecloun says:

    Very glad to see this and older generations actually caring about the future; sometimes it seems that our culture doesn’t look ahead much. Conservation, imo, is the key to preserving the future of our children and theirs.

    Maybe the dinosaur could declare this a “no-asteroid zone”. It was a great message, though, because it makes people think — regardless of your personal stance on human-caused climate change.

    As long as we are all talking and exchanging ideas, we can collectively formulate a viable future. When we become wrapped up entirely in our own lives, apathy rears its ugly head.

    I support ours and global youth in speaking out. Never, ever, stop speaking your mind.

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  12. Anonymous says:

    Love the message of the person with the Dinosaur outfit!

    That’s exactly right Dino person!

    Unless there were dinosaur SUV’s, Dino coal plants and Dino plastic straws back 250 Million years ago, the climate changed all on its own!

    And changed again to the climate we have today. Imagine that. The climate changes, always has, always will. So your message is actually right.

    PS: I also think dinosaurs didn’t really have an opinion on the climate Dino person.

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  13. Anonymous says:

    The entirety of Cayman could stop consuming fossil fuels tomorrow and the net global effect would be a drop in the ocean.

    Our problem isn’t emissions here. It’s the garbage/wastage and single use disposables..

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    • Anonymous says:

      And what about climate change resilience?

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    • Anonymous says:

      Right, but a small tick can give a big mammal a disease. This is not a zero sum game, braniac. It’s all hands on deck. Wha the hell wrong with unnah?

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    • Anonymous says:

      right by that logic all of cayman should stop donating to global charities too because it’s just a drop in the ocean.

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  14. Anonymous says:

    Was a great turn out. Almost every car that passed, honked in support.

    You all need to make sure your family is educated about what’s going on. Make sure to talk to family members about how they will vote.

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