Just over 100 young environmental activists joined in a climate march Friday afternoon at Government House, calling on local leaders to take action on climate change.
“We need action and we needed it a long time ago,” Emily De Cou of Amplify Cayman said Friday when she joined with members of Protect Our Future and Mangrove Rangers to shine light on climate change.
Waving signs and chanting “we want change and we want it now,” the local environmental groups, mainly consisting of students, pleaded for local legislators to pay serious attention to climate issues.
Nicolas Corin, of Protect Our Future, led the environmentally conscious students in their demonstration.
He said one of the changes they would like to see is a ban on sunscreens unsafe for reefs, products which may be linked to the Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease that is ravaging local reef structures.
“There is so much we would like to see in the future, it’s almost an endless list with development, over-development, the mangroves, conservation,” he said, adding that there is so much that can be done, but they are not seeing anything being done.
“We are participating in our democracy by letting our elected officials know what we need as citizens, and that they have our support to make the changes that are needed,” De Cou said.
De Cou pointed to the environmental charter signed 20 years ago, which she said Cayman has seen “barely” any action on.
“Years later, we are still pursuing the effects of not abiding by those principles, and the time to act is now. There is no time like the present,” she said.
She added that climate change affects everyone and is a risk to “life as we know it”.
Cassandra MacDowell of Cayman Islands Mangrove Rangers said the group joined the protest to spread awareness about local resources and the need to protect them.
The Cayman Compass reached out to Wayne Panton, premier and minister for Climate Change and Sustainability, for comment, and are awaiting a response.
Additional reporting by Alvaro Serey.
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