Blue Sky School

There was a lot of talk about climate change in the past few weeks with Greta Thunberg, the climate strike, and the Canadian English debate. Students of Blue Sky School took part in the strike happening around the world. Climate change was also a large topic, one of the five main topics in the English language debate that took place in the Canadian history museum in Gatineau. It is pretty clear to me that climate change is a disaster that is almost imminent and anyone who doesn’t think that can go soak their head. Or they can get more credible info. “Climate action is important!” said Will. I feel personally that climate action and enlightening yourself about the emergency is the best thing you can do. I did not attend the Ottawa climate strike yet I feel like it was needed to help convince some people. People who have the power or run large companies seem to not care about as long as the dollars keep rolling in. The streets of downtown Ottawa were PACKED with ...

Before we went to the Climate Strike, we had a workshop on what exactly protesting was, and I gotta say, a lot of our expectations were way off the mark. When I think of protesting, my first thought is marchin’ for a cause, and it’s only after a few seconds do I consider the more tame types. Those were the things that Deagan explained. One particular example that stuck with me one that wasn’t violent, but it was jarring.  In 1963, around the Saigon area of Vietnam, a monk set himself on fire in a busy intersection to protest discriminatory Buddhist laws. He showed restraint while doing so, not moving when he could help it. Jaden’s reaction when I asked about it was, word for word, “Ummmm, it’s kind of terrifying, but it was interesting at the same time.” I have to say, I’m much more comfortable with the protesting that we did at the climate march.