Vancouver youth help raise awareness about climate change

A large group of Vancouverites marched on Sunday to raise awareness about climate change, pollution and the wasting of natural resources across the globe.

The event came a few days after Earth Day, which was founded by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson in 1970. It's held every April 22 around the world to mark the anniversary of the start of the modern environmental movement.

The event, which is now in its fifth year, is more of a street party than a protest. It's organized and led by a group of high school students in Vancouver who feel that the best way to protect the planet is to celebrate it.

Students from Vancouver's Windermere Secondary School's Youth for Climate Justice Now program spearhead the Vancouver march each year. They say the march is about raising awareness for sustainability while also bringing the community together to have fun.

Sylvia Zhang, the student organizer, told Xinhua that they feel it was their responsibility to take action because this is the earth everybody is inheriting.

"Without this Earth, without the stuff it provides for us, and if we don't do something about it, it's going to be too late in the future," she said.

This year's march and festival caught the attention of Elizabeth May, a Canadian member of parliament and the leader of the Canadian Green Party. She said her own environmental activism started when she was in high school.

"Earth Day has been celebrated April 22nd every April 22nd for the last 45 years, and I've been involved in every single one of them now that I'm old, so I love seeing the young people coming up, working, and... it' s a very celebratory event," May said.

She also stressed that it was important for young people to send a message to the public and to their governments that youth have a stake in the health of the planet. The youth will eventually be the ones making decisions about how we manage our resources and protect the environment, she added. Endi