A group of concerned young people are set to address city council at 5:30 this afternoon in their ongoing effort to stop climate change.

Sophie Molgat, 13, Sylvie Sandiford, 12, and Callah MacGillivray, 11, have become increasingly concerned about climate change and the inaction of adults who are in positions to make real changes.

They recognize that if we don’t act now in preventing further climate change, they won’t have a future on this planet.

“We need our politicians to recognize climate change for what it is – it’s an emergency,” MacGillivray said earlier today.

“We only have 12 years to change our ways and avoid complete disaster. I’m not even 12 years old yet, and this is the future I am facing.”

The young people also know there are changes that the City of Whitehorse can make now that could make a big difference, said a statement about their planned appearance at council.

This includes banning all single-use plastics, improving public transportation so that people drive cars less, making the city more bike-friendly, aiming to compost 100 per cent of our organics, and reducing the carbon footprint of city buildings.

“There are many cities similar sized to Whitehorse that are finding innovative solutions to help stopclimate change. Let us be one of them,”, said Sandiford.

Recently, Molgat, Sandiford and MacGillivray took part in the School Strike for Climate (also called “Fridays for Future”).

As reported in last Monday’s Star, they rallied in front of the Elijah Smith Building chanting, “You’ll die of old age, we’ll die of climate change.”

They plan to continue with these rallies on Fridays.

The kids also plan to bring their message to politicians at the territorial and federal level.

“I never thought we would have to come here to ask you for help. We always thought grown-ups were the models, the ones to be smart, to make good decisions, but right now, grown-ups aren’t the ones we thought they were,” said Molgat.