Youth 4 Climate Justice organized Vancouver’s Earth Day Parade on Commercial Drive, April 22, 2011

Vancouver’s Earth Day Parade and Celebration on April 22 was colourful, inspiring and a total blast. The most awesome thing about it? It wasn’t organized by politicians or big-time sponsors, but by a group of local high school students who call themselves Youth 4 Climate Justice Now—or Y4CJN if you’re texting.

The parade started at Commercial Drive and Grandview Highway. It was inspiring to see such a large community of all ages gather and take the students’ message to heart!

Costumes and banners at Earth Day Parade, Vancouver, April 22, 2011

When we got to the Britannia Secondary School Field, the Celebrations began with a blast of music from the brass band.

Vancouver Earth Day organizers Youth 4 Climate Change with Ben West (centre)

The students responsible for Y4CJN were joined on the stage by their mentor and co-organizer, Ben West.

Ben is the Climate Campaigner for the Wilderness Committee, an environmental organization that co-organized the event.

Together, they asked the audience to “recycle the peace sign”. The audience obliged, and a sea of hands of rose to the (almost) blue Vancouver sky.

The recycled peace sign had two meanings for the students: let’s stop global temperatures from rising beyond 2 C degrees and let’s petition politicians to do 2 things to stop climate change.

Y4CJN’s suggestions to save the earth:

• Stop building highways
• Build public transit
• End our dependence our oil

What are your suggestions for putting a stop to Climate Change?

Costumes, Earth Day Vancouver 2011