Teen climate activists stage funeral for their future in Vancouver

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — Clad in black, bearing flowers, and carrying a coffin–teen climate activists held a funeral for their lost futures Saturday.

The Vancouver Sustainabiliteens gathered outside the Vancouver office of Environment and Climate Change Canada where they described their fear and anger.

“I’m really concerned about not having a future,” says organizer Natalie Chang. “I’m just really scared that there’s going to continue to be this kind of inaction–it’s really terrifying.”

The teens wrote what they have lost as a result of the climate crisis on a tombstone and later marched in a procession carrying a small casket.

“You’re tearing apart our future home because you’re moving out.” pic.twitter.com/KyU8dgEMEx

— Kathryn Tindale (@kathryntindale) December 14, 2019

“Being told by the world around me, by world leaders and politicians, that it doesn’t really matter–it hurts a lot because they’re saying that our futures don’t really matter,” says Juno Avila-Clark, another organizer. “I’m here because I’m mourning the future that I though I would have when I was younger.”

“If we want to keep the world alive, we need to do better.” @NEWS1130 pic.twitter.com/U7ehjPnJBm

— Kathryn Tindale (@kathryntindale) December 14, 2019

“I’m here because when I was 13-years-old I learned about the severity of the issue and my dream is to be a marine biologist and when I learned that there was not going to be anything to explore anymore, it hurt me in a way I didn’t expect,” said attendee Sophie. “Realizing that something that seemed so invincible like nature itself was going to be destroyed just didn’t seem right.”

They are mourning for the future they dreamed of and can no longer have. @NEWS1130 pic.twitter.com/JMDNiOljZw

— Kathryn Tindale (@kathryntindale) December 14, 2019

Saturday’s protest comes on the heels of climate activist Greta Thunberg being named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year.

The teens staging the funeral agreed the Swedish teenager has been “awesome,” particularly for galvanizing students like them across the world to skip school to engage in climate strikes.

“She’s really done a lot because the climate change movement always existed but she was the person that really a lot of people needed to start becoming activists,” said another one of the teens at the demonstration. “People can also feel her emotion, so students feel a lot more comfortable.”