An international campaign that traces its roots back to a Swedish climate activist hit the streets of Whitehorse on Friday afternoon, coming complete with students demanding action on climate change.

Lined along Main Street outside of the Elijah Smith Building, more than 50 people chanted and held signs as light snow covered the area Friday afternoon.

“The snow we’re having right now, maybe in a couple of winters we won’t have enough to go skiing – it just won’t be nice and it won’t be Whitehorse anymore,” said Sophie Molgat of École Whitehorse Elementary School.

Molgat was surrounded by signs showing a sense of urgency like “We want hope, we want climate justice now,” “The climate is changing, why aren’t we,” and “Don’t burn our future.”

She was joined by her peers to send a message to leaders.

“They always say that they love their children so much, but whenever they drive their cars, go on a plane or anything – they’re just killing our future,” Molgat said.

One sign even read “We are skipping our lessons to teach you one.”

At one point, students took centre stage as the adults lined up behind them. That prompted chants of “You will die of old age, I will die of climate change” from the crowd.

On hand was the Yukon NDP’s Kate White and a number of other party faithfuls, joined by teachers, students and other activists.

“You guys kind of make me a little bit emotional, because the people behind you – we’ve been doing this for months, like years,” White told the crowd.

Slowly, chants of “One Earth, one chance,” “There is no planet B,” and “If the Earth is cool, we would be in school” began to pick up.

Meanwhile, 12-year-old Sylvie Sandiford was also on hand and had a simple message for the Yukon government.

“I think that the government should ban plastic bags because it’s doing so much harm to the environment,” she told reporters.

YG had just wrapped up its public engagement a week before Sandiford’s remarks. It’s seeking feedback on a fee for single-use shopping bags that could see both paper and plastic bags subjected to a user charge.

The government even set up bales of plastic recently in three locations across the city in an ode to waste for all to see - including outside École Whitehorse Elementary School. It’s maintained that a ban could be a next step after it looks at putting a price on single-use bags.

“I think they should definitely ban plastic bags and just do as much as they can to stop all this from happening,” Sandiford added.

Other students at the climate strike included Kalia Graham and Callah MacGillivray.

In what has grown to be a global youth movement, students have been encouraged to strike for climate movement across the world after 16-year-old activist Greta Thunberg gained attention through her Stockholm protests outside the Swedish parliament.

By March of this year, it was estimated more than one million students in more than 100 countries have taken party in striking.