Woman inspired by granddaughter calls for climate justice

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This article was published 22/04/2023 (1078 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Brandon woman credits her granddaughter for inspiring her to take action on climate issues.

Betty Kelly, 70, has been building on an initiative her granddaughter, Renna, brought to Brandon when she was 12 years old.

“Our granddaughter, Renna, started the climate strike in 2019 to draw attention to climate change, and we thought we should support her by going out the one time — but we never stopped,” said Kelly. “And now, more and more people are coming out when they learn about it.”

The climate strike, called Fridays for Future, is a youth-led international movement started by Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg in 2018.

Once a month, several Brandon strikers will set up at the corner of 18th Street and Victoria Avenue, in front of Knox United Church, with signs bearing slogans like “Care for the planet,” and “System change, not climate change,” waving as traffic whirls by.

The activists represent various local environmental groups including Sustainable Brandon, the Knox United Church’s green team, and Brandon’s chapter of Fridays for Future.

“I started striking when I was 12, because I saw the youth climate strikes beginning in other areas of the world, specifically Fridays for Future, and that’s what inspired me. With some gentle nudging from my parents, I started striking,” said Renna, now 16.

During her first climate strike, Renna said, she remembered being the only one who showed up with her sign in front of Brandon City Hall, as her family, including her grandmother, watched with pride.

“When Renna sees something that needs to be done, she starts by doing it herself,” said Kelly. “And then people just sort of rally around her because she has that spark, that spark of inspiration for those of us who are starting to get to the less energetic stage in life.”

Being a student at École secondaire Neelin High School means Renna can’t attend as many climate strikes as she would like, but she said it’s her turn to be proud of her grandmother.

“I think it’s awesome that my grandmother has been striking. She’s a great role model for me and others,” Renna said. “Being environmentally friendly can be standing up for the climate in the form of a strike, or having a compost in your house, or telling your friends and family about eco-friendly options. But generally, I think it’s a great choice for people to reduce their waste and be conscious of their choices.”

Participating in a climate strike for an hour and a half, once a month, is something that’s easy for Quentin Robinson to do with his flexible work life, he said. There’s a big difference when it comes to environmental awareness and waste, when comparing his grandparents’ age group to his own, he added.

“In my grandparents’ generation, people didn’t throw stuff away at all, they would keep things to reuse and fix, everything was a valuable resource,” said Robinson. “When I grew up … not many people thought twice about disposing of things. But here we are discovering once again that we can’t just throw things away, because we do have limited resources.”

Holding a sign that said “Unite behind the science” was Craig Miller, Knox United Church’s reverend who is also a member of the green team. He said religion should adapt with new information that’s coming through the sciences about climate change and extinction.

“Part of our call to faith is caring for the earth, and many of us experience the sacred while we’re in nature, so we feel called to care for the earth as our home,” Miller said.

Braving the wind on the corner with her sign that read “Planet over profit,” Kelly said her granddaughter is always in the back of her mind, and while going on strike one Friday a month may not make big changes, it will make a difference to the planet in the long run.

“Our grandchildren’s grandchildren still need a good place to live, so if we can do a little bit to help spread that message around and remind each other, then that’s a good thing to be doing,” Kelly said.

» mmcdougall@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @enviromichele