Protesters skied, carried mock coffins and wore windmills on their heads at demonstrations staged around the world on Saturday that were designed to draw attention to climate change.
Rallies were held in more than 50 cities worldwide, including Vancouver, Ottawa, Halifax and Moncton. Environmental organizations around the world staged the Global Day of Action to coincide with the two-week UN Climate Change Conference, which runs until Friday in Bali, Indonesia.
"Climate change is happening, it's a real issue," said Danielle Bédard, who helped organize the event in Windsor, Ont. "Things have to happen and it really needs to be on our political agenda."
At the Toronto event, an organizer dialed Prime Minister Stephen Harper's office and held up the cellphone to the crowd, which shouted demands for Harper to commit to Canada's Kyoto obligations.
Kyoto sets different emissions targets for different countries, with an overall goal of reducing emissions by about five per cent from 1990 levels by 2012.
Canada, which signed the agreement in 1998 under a Liberal government, is supposed to reduce its emissions by six per cent from 1990 levels. However, Canada is not on track to meet its goal by 2012. The current Conservative government pledged in April to reduce Canada's overall emissions by 20 per cent from 2006 levels by 2020, meaning Canada will miss its targets by years.
FULL STORY
What do you think? Should Canada honour its commitments to the Kyoto Protocol or not? Will rallies get the message across?
More...
Rallies were held in more than 50 cities worldwide, including Vancouver, Ottawa, Halifax and Moncton. Environmental organizations around the world staged the Global Day of Action to coincide with the two-week UN Climate Change Conference, which runs until Friday in Bali, Indonesia.
"Climate change is happening, it's a real issue," said Danielle Bédard, who helped organize the event in Windsor, Ont. "Things have to happen and it really needs to be on our political agenda."
At the Toronto event, an organizer dialed Prime Minister Stephen Harper's office and held up the cellphone to the crowd, which shouted demands for Harper to commit to Canada's Kyoto obligations.
Kyoto sets different emissions targets for different countries, with an overall goal of reducing emissions by about five per cent from 1990 levels by 2012.
Canada, which signed the agreement in 1998 under a Liberal government, is supposed to reduce its emissions by six per cent from 1990 levels. However, Canada is not on track to meet its goal by 2012. The current Conservative government pledged in April to reduce Canada's overall emissions by 20 per cent from 2006 levels by 2020, meaning Canada will miss its targets by years.
FULL STORY
What do you think? Should Canada honour its commitments to the Kyoto Protocol or not? Will rallies get the message across?
More...