Local demonstration on global climate change planned for Friday

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

A small group of active citizens from Charles City will be gathering at Central Park Friday afternoon to raise their voices about global climate change.

The climate awareness demonstration is scheduled to start at 4 p.m., and anyone is welcome to attend.

“We’re just hoping that we can get a few people,” said Barbara Thomsen, one of the local demonstrators. Thomsen said that there would be at least a dozen women there, and “hopefully most of them will bring their partners.”

The rally is in support of what is known as the Youth Climate Strike — an international movement of school students who take time off from class to participate in demonstrations to demand action to prevent further global warming and global climate change.

Strikes are scheduled to take place Sept. 20-27 all over the world, and several student groups across the country have gotten permission from their school districts to take part on Friday. Others are planning to participate in the strike whether they have permission to do so or not.

“We all need to be aware of what’s happening, and put pressure on the government to do something about it,” Thomsen said.

Any students in Charles City who wish to join the rally in Central Park won’t need permission from their school, as the demonstration here is not scheduled to begin until 4 p.m., after the school day is finished. Thomsen said she has alerted Charles City Superintendent Mike Fisher of the demonstration, just so he is aware.

“We decided to start it at that time so that local students could come down and wouldn’t have to miss school,” Thomsen said.

Thomsen said the idea for the demonstration sprung from some discussion among a handful of women one morning at a local coffee shop.

“A bunch of us ladies were sitting down at Aroma’s talking about it, and we thought we should do something in Charles City,” Thomsen said. “I don’t think anyone else locally has planned anything.”

She said the group will have placards available Friday, and individuals who want to join them just need to bring their voices and some enthusiasm.

“I don’t know what else we’ll do, maybe just walk around with the placards for a while,” she said. “We’re just hoping to get more awareness out there.”