Thousands of Canadians will be taking to the streets Friday as part of this month’s second Global Climate Strike, events intended to pressure world leaders to take urgent action on climate change.
Retailer MEC will close its 22 stores until 5 p.m. so employees can participate in the protests and all Lush stores will remain closed all day. Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg will join demonstrations in Montreal.
Some school boards across Canada are allowing students with parental consent to miss class to attend the strikes (in Montreal, one school board is closing its schools) and the University of British Columbia is allowing faculty members to cancel classes.
The Global Climate Strike is a good day to look at what six pop music acts have done to help the environment:
For his current world tour, Shawn Mendes partnered with REVERB and Flow to reduce his environmental footprint and to urge fans to do their part for the environment. This included providing free water refill stations so concert-goers can bring their own reusable bottles. On Sept. 20, Mendes tweeted: "Together we can and will change the future of our planet."
For many years, Sheryl Crow has used biodegradable and compostable catering, reusable water bottles and biodiesel fuel on her tours. She is also a co-founder of the Green Music Group.
Justin Timberlake was honoured in 2011 for his efforts to make his tours carbon neutral. He has also helped promote a number of environmental causes.
Adam Levine’s band has partnered with Reverb to reduce its carbon footprint on tour.
The Canadian band was one of the first to use alternative fuels on tours and to promote plastic waste reduction and clean water.
John Legend works at making his tours as green as possible and has provided tips to fans on reducing their environmental footprint. He was also part of U.S. president Barack Obama’s Green Inaugural Ball to promote sustainable energy use.