'Right now': masked marchers demand climate crisis action - MLive.com

‘Right now’: masked marchers demand climate crisis action - mlive.com

KALAMAZOO, MI -- Marching downtown, demonstrators wore respiratory masks and held signs, chanting to draw attention to the climate crisis.

“Canada is burning now. Climate change is affecting Michigan right now,” 17-year-old Mia Breznau said on the steps of Kalamazoo City Hall before the march began.

She and about 30 others gathered at city hall Thursday, July 13, and marched to Bronson Methodist Hospital, about six blocks away.

Event organizer Allen Webb talked about the smoke in the air in recent weeks, coming from Canadian wildfires. His two daughters wanted to play outside, Webb said, but he decided to take them to Crossroads Mall instead.

“What world are my daughters getting dealt here?” Webb said.

The wildfires are linked to climate change because the smoke is coming from fires in northern Canada, made more likely because of drying and heating of the arctic area, he said.

“It’s a climate crisis problem this wildfire smoke,” Webb said.

The fires are an example of natural feedback loops, he said. Increased warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions results in hotter, drier weather and wildfires. The wildfires release extensive carbon dioxide thus further increasing warming and causing still more wildfires, said Webb, a professor of English at Western Michigan University.

Residents said they want government officials to take more aggressive actions locally to reduce the use of greenhouse gas.

Breznau said she founded a group called National Youth Climate Emergency. Young people will have to build a sustainable world, she said, but it’s up to those in power now to “lay the foundation.”

Vice Mayor Don Cooney said people should continue to advocate for action on this great moral issue.

“Keep pushing,” Cooney said. He expressed concerns for air impacts on people already dealing with air quality issues on the city’s northside, and those who work in conditions with poor ventilation and hot temperatures.

“We need you to help us understand what has to be done and to push us to do the right thing,” Cooney said.

Related: Township looks at Tesla Cybertruck, other EVs, but goes with gas for fire marshal

The protestors marched down the sidewalks, chanting. “What do we want? Climate action. When do we want it? Now.”

In a wagon, they pulled an inflatable earth decorated with balloon flames.

Local governments have taken some actions.

Mark Miller, chair of the Kalamazoo Township Climate Committee and a township trustee, talked about the need to push for actions by 2030, instead of later dates.

“That’s like, right now,” he said, because of time needed for planning and financing actions.

The county recently hired a sustainability coordinator. County officials are excited for the opportunity made possible through grant funding, Kalamazoo County Deputy Administrator Lyndi Warner told MLive/Kalamazoo Gazette.

The Board of Commissioners signed an agreement with Kalamazoo Climate Crisis Coalition and created the position during the March 21 commission meeting. The sustainability coordinator was first introduced during a Board of Commissioner’s Committee of the Whole Meeting on June 20, Warner said.

In June 2022, the city of Kalamazoo passed a community sustainability plan. It includes actions to pilot a community solar project, promote all electric incentives and rooftop solar for new construction, and electrifying the city’s fleet vehicles.

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