Environmental activist Greta Thunberg, of Sweden, addresses the Climate Action Summit in the United Nations General Assembly, at U.N. headquarters, Monday, Sept. 23, 2019. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)
Climate change phenom, Greta Thunberg, held a rally in Edmonton, Alberta. You know the drill by now. Every Friday, children throughout the world sacrifice their educations to save the planet. Thousands of students and families led by indigenous drummers joined together to march through the center of Canada’s energy heartland to protest the use of fossil fuels. The group carried signs and banners. One said, “School Strike for Climate Justice” and another said, “We are Skipping Our Lessons to Teach You One.” My personal favorite was, “Be a Better Ancestor.”
Standing on the steps in front of Edmonton’s legislature, Thunberg spoke to the crowd. Same old schtick. She said, “We are doing this because our future is at stake. We will not be bystanders. We are doing this because we want the people in power to unite behind science.”
Her full remarks can be heard in the video at the bottom of the page if anyone is interested (although I seriously doubt it).
According to the Daily Mail, pro-oil group United We Roll organized a convoy of oil and gas truckers to drive by and disrupt Thunberg’s protest. The group drove from the city of Red Deer to Edmonton. In the video below, a cacophony is heard as the trucks roll slowly by the event, honking their horns – loudly. Later, the drivers parked their vehicles and held their own protest. Some held signs that said, “We love oil and gas” or “I’m voting for pipelines this election.”
A counter-protester said:
We care for the environment, of course we do. What they need to understand is that we’re hurting and we also need to care about Alberta jobs.
When they charged their iPhones last night, that power came from this plant.
Albertans and Canadians are practical people. They like real world solutions. Calling for the end of the modern industrial economy, advocating to put millions of people out of work… is not a real world solution.
Alberta's oil patch has a message for Greta pic.twitter.com/aAuGZOEZhk
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) October 18, 2019
A trucker with a megaphone was heard yelling, “Everything around you is powered by oil, gas and coal.”
Kudos to United We Roll.
The video directly below shows some of the clashes which arose between the protestors and the counter-protestors. Some raised voices can be heard and there looked to be some minor pushing and shoving, but it was relatively mild. If there is a Canadian version of Antifa, they did not show up.
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