My mother says, ‘you’re not white. You can’t get arrested. A criminal record will close doors for you’ Look your kid in the eyes, then you’ll realize just how much of a sacrifice they are making Members of XR youth superglued themselves to the window displays of major high street brands to draw attention to the high carbon footprint of fast fashion. LUCY EJ WOODS MARCH-APRIL 2020 Climate activism do’ says Torres. They have also spoken about the potential repercussions of arrest. ‘My mother says, “you’re not white. You can’t get arrested. A criminal record will close doors for you.”’ Torres came to Canada from Colombia when she was seven years old. She’s also involved in anti-racist organizing, which she links to her environmental campaigning. ‘People need to understand how the horrible colonial treatment of indigenous people is linked to climate change,’ she says, and how, historically, indigenous people have been the ones to look after nature. Yet it’s only children and young people who seem to understand the complex roots of climate change. ‘Adults clearly have the power and the ability to act on climate change. Placing the burden of hope onto young people is absurd. That’s not taking responsibility.’ She finds it difficult to be told ‘ just focus on studying and get a job’ when she and many of her peers struggle to imagine a secure future because of climate change. ‘What is the point of university? What is the point when we will have crazy debt, and then not have a livable future?’ LOUIS COUILLARD Working alongside Torres is Louis Couillard, a 22-year-old International Relations student at Montreal University. Like Karcher, he’s finding it tough to balance his studies with mobilizing, sometimes working 12-hour days. His test results have dropped since he became an activist and he is even wondering whether to continue with higher education. If Couillard was not so concerned about climate change, he would ‘play hockey and just enjoy my youth!’ Feeling a sense of missing out, Couillard urges people to ‘ look at your kid, look them in the eye, then you’ll realize just how much of a sacrifice they are making right now’. He does feel hopeful though that climate consciousness has risen in Quebec following flooding in April and May 2019. ‘People woke up,’ he says. ‘A state of emergency was declared, and people were forced to evacuate their homes.’ He found relief during the disaster when he saw strangers pulling together. ‘The future is uncertain, but for change to happen, people have to get involved – they just haven’t all realized that yet,’ he says. Couillard goes to ‘eco-grief ’ and ‘ecoanxiety’ events offered by the campaigns community in Montreal. ‘In the bubble of activism, there are highs and lows. Being pro-active and organizing strikes for this Black Friday helps alleviate eco-anxiety,’ he says. But there are still bad days. One day before a climate march, Couillard worked hard to get students along to a general assembly to vote on formal strike action. ‘We needed 300 votes. We got 285, so it didn’t happen,’ he recalls. ‘It’s a small detail... but I burst into tears on the metro going home.’ EMMA LIM In the corridors of McGill University, 18-year-old Emma Lim is in the midst of final exam preparation while organizing various actions for Black Friday. Although weary, with sleep-deprivation circles around her eyes, she is razor sharp when it comes to defining what drives her: ‘People will be harmed by our greed, by unlimited growth on a limited planet – we value some people more than others.’ Lim has organized climate strikes every Friday for a year now. ‘I missed a lot of school. My teachers were mad. But it’s not that we don’t want to go. We’re tired and sad – people are dying.’ She remembers a chemistry teacher asking her, ‘What is more important? This strike, or your future?’ Lim replied: ‘Don’t you get it? They are the same thing.’ Like her peers, Lim’s hectic activism schedule affects her academic performance. Her daily routine starts at 7.00am, when she usually skips breakfast, so she can take calls in the morning. ‘Then I go to class, I have meetings at lunch time or conference calls. I often don’t eat lunch. Then after class, I study until 1.00am, and take more calls.’ I 71