Linh Gomez Garzon is a seventh-grade student at George Hilliard Elementary, and goes to school every weekday except Tuesdays. On Tuesdays, Garzon can be found on TRU campus grounds, perched on the low branches of a tree with a sign that reads, “Sit with me 5 min! Right now! Our future needs you!!” According to her, this protest is “for our planet.” And despite the extra work she must do to catch up in school, or the boredom of sitting outside a university administration building, Garzon insists she “had to do something,” because “very few people [are] actually doing something.”
Beginning at Riverside Park on Tuesdays and Fridays, Garzon would sit alone for hours. Her sign would urge passersby to have a conversation about the climate. In five weeks, she barely saw any traffic.
“I thought I could try another strategy,” she said. “So I wrote to TRU, and they said yes.”
Now, she arrives at the university every Tuesday from 11:20 to 1:00 pm. She forgoes the benches for a particularly comfortable tree in the grounds outside of the Culinary Arts building. And she has no end date in mind. For now, Garzon intends to continue these protests in hopes that the movement grows. She gestures at a larger group sometime in the future, and more definition on their purpose and activities.
“Maybe when there’s a more defined group,” she said, “we could go to Riverside Park again or clean garbage or something.”
For now, her focus is on showing up. “I’ve seen a lot of smoke in summer, and wildfires, and winters [with] less snow,” she explained. “It affects health for us and for future generations.”
For many in the campus community, Garzon’s generation is precisely the “future generation” often spoken about. Having just turned twelve, she is in the age-range commonly referred to as Generation Alpha. The oldest of that generation would be around 16 today, depending on how you define it. Generation Alpha will be entering the world with a new set of challenges largely unanticipated by the adults that ushered them into it; not the least of which will be climate change.
At the start of September, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) put out a press release declaring that the world will cross the 1.5ºC threshold of global temperature increase which, as stated by the 2015 Paris climate accord, will “significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change”. According to UNEP, this rise is certain to lead to intensified weather extremes, ecosystem loss, and “severe damage to human health, food security, water supplies, nature, cities, infrastructure and economies.”
Ultimately, this is the world that children in Garzon’s generation, as well as its preceeding Generation Z, will be left with. The tension of this reality will continue to grow as we have seen it in the last few years. In the historic United States mid-term elections, the anti-Data centre movement became an unexpected central topic that contributed to sweeping Democratic victories. In Brazil, the re-election of Incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, commonly referred to as Lula, was widely viewed as a victory for the planet. As new generations age up and gain the right to vote, we’ve seen the climate increasingly take central stage in political discourse.
This could also explain why so many youth climate activists have appeared, from 19-year-old Amariyanna Copeny (also known as Little Miss Flint) protesting the Flint water crisis in Michigan, to 23-year-old Greta Thunberg, whose school strikes have since grown into a global movement. Although the climate action idea was entirely Garzon’s, she does refer to Thunberg specifically as a source of inspiration. It’s no wonder; the Swedish activist has been one of the most prominent voices in the youth-led agitation around climate change.
Garzon, who recently turned 12, is another one of those voices.
Having also spoken with the local CBC radio, Garzon said she is determined to get more of the word out. “If [people] read about it, and see it, they might be inspired,” she said. “They might want to do the same, or take other kinds of action.”
Undoubtedly, the support Garzon receives has been a significant part of this process. Her family has been more than happy to follow her lead, drive her where she needs to be, and do any of the grunt work to help achieve her vision. Her elementary school encourages her as well, allowing her take Tuesdays off and even giving her a platform to present her climate action in class. And TRU itself, in allowing her protest on the property, has affirmed her efforts.
For Garzon, the TRU campus has also been a far more supporting place than Riverside Park. More people have been willing to stop and have a conversation with her, which she describes as nice.
“They’ve asked what inspired me, and what [I am] doing. What is my next step?”
It’s a win for Garzon, who says she chose TRU not only because there were always people around, but also because of the institution’s sustainability legacy.
“I thought it would be a good option to meet people with similar values as me,” Garzon said.
Despite TRU’s stated values, it recently sparked outrage across the campus community over reported plans to construct two megawatt data centres on university property.
So maybe Garzon’s presence at TRU serves as a reminder of what the stakes are. More than just a financial decision to keep the university on the cutting edge, choices like these will also affect the young people left behind.
Garzon, for her part, hopes that her actions will inspire others to take action themselves. Maybe it doesn’t look like skipping school every Tuesday and sitting on a tree. “They can also do it in their own way,” she emphasized repeatedly. “Find how to help in their own way.”
At just 12 years old, Garzon has found her way. All she seems to be demanding of everyone else, is that they start to think about theirs.