Cayman’s youth environment groups have issued an open call for local students to join the global fight against fossil fuels and send in letters voicing their concern over their impact on the environment.
Protect Our Future, along with several other environmental activism groups from Cayman, have also planned a climate demonstration at 4pm on 15 Sept. at the Government Administration Building to promote the issue.
“The continued use and promotion of fossil fuels by corporations and governments both here in Cayman and around the world is causing devastating environmental catastrophe. This is so severe, we are watching our terrestrial and marine habitats, not to mention endemic species, deteriorate at an exponential rate, while freak weather events decimate populations and communities,” Evie Sweetman, a Protect Our Future leader, said in a statement on the local campaign.
The planned letter-writing campaign and demonstration is part of a global initiative by world climate justice organisations, which includes marches to #EndFossilFuels to be held from 15-17 Sept. to “demand a rapid, just, and equitable end to fossil fuels”.
Sweetman said, in joining this global demonstration, “the youth of Cayman are voicing their support for change and a movement into a new, fossil fuel free future”.
A major march is planned in New York City on 17 Sept., as world leaders attend the United Nations Secretary General’s Climate Ambition Summit.
“Our world is in crisis, and the biggest cause is fossil fuels: coal, oil and gas. The fossil fuel industry is responsible for 86% of all CO2 emissions in the past decade. They are driving a predatory and destructive economic system that harms people and the planet, fuelling climate breakdown. The science is clear: what the world needs now is a rapid and just transition to an energy and economic system that is efficient, fair, and universal,” the joint statement from the climate justice organisations stated.
Protect Our Future, in its release on joining the initiative, invited all young people in Cayman interested in the climate and protecting the environment to write a letter to the government or the world at large, “sharing your concerns about climate change or your vision for the future”.
“This demonstration will join thousands of young people around the world, who are coming together in order to demand that governments listen to the planet’s need for clean, safe, renewable energy, before it’s too late. In the wake of the hottest summer in recorded history, and the UN Secretary General announcing that the planet is entering an era of ‘Global Boiling’, this is more necessary than ever before,” it said.
The letters will be presented to government on 15 Sept.
Protect Our Future said the letters are an opportunity for students to use their voices and join the global cry for a fair, fossil-fuel-free future.
Resources and information for the letters can be found at www.fightfossilfuels.net and letters can be sent to [email protected].
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