MISSOULA – Around 100 folks marched down Higgins Street in downtown Missoula on Sunday to demand legislative action against climate change.
Several local and state organizations were represented at the march including speakers representing the office of US Senator Jon Tester, the Salish Kootenai Confederated Tribes and numerous environmental organizations.
Students from Hellgate High School’s environmental club MC’d the event and marched alongside politicians, community members and paper mache fish to encourage conscious activism and support of the cause.
Missoula County Commissioner candidate Josh Slotnick was among those advocating for action.
“And no one can be blamed if we say, ‘well, it seems like we failed, we decided that the future is too expensive and the present too convenient to ask for change’,” Slotnick said.
“But that’s not how I see this. As humans, we are good at taking action when the danger is acute and poignant and right there. When the Clark Fork River is in your front yard, everybody gets together and throws out sandbags. We don’t seem to be nearly as good at forethought,” he added.
-Donal Lakatua reporting for MTN News
