Hundreds of protestors hit Forres High Street for Earth March
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CLIMATE change protestors turned out in good numbers for Friday's Earth March through the centre of Forres.
The Earth March, organised by concerned local residents, began at the Thomson Memorial obelisk next to the post office and ended in Grant Park.
With Forres High Street closed to vehicles between 2pm and 4pm, the march stopped outside The Tolbooth for sing-songs, speeches and a minute's silence.
Among the speakers were Simon Clark of Extinction Rebellion, Fabio Villani of TSI Moray and a couple of local school children.
Allan Gray, from Findhorn, was one of the co-organisers. He said: "It was a great turnout, with a great mix of ages and great speakers.
"It was all about getting all different walks of life to come together, so we are really happy.
"We couldn't be happier with the number of young people who turned out. It's great that their voices are heard."
Speaker Simon Clark added: "The timing of this march was crucial – it's before COP, as we are coming out of lockdown and after last month's ICC report.
"The aim was to give people an opportunity to come onto the street, given the critical nature of the decisions made at COP, and bring out their anxieties, frustrations and joys.
"For those that came, I think we achieved that."
The event was part of the Scotland wide Climate Fringe, which is bringing people together to talk about the climate crisis in the lead up to COP26 in Glasgow in November. Fridays For a Future also had a Global Climate strike on the same day.
The march also came after a study from the University of Bath – who spoke to 10,000 people aged between 16 and 25 and found that 56 per cent believed the earth is "doomed" without action on climate change. Four in 10 said they were "hesitant to have children" due to crisis.
18-year-old student Florence Spreadbrough, from Forres, said: "How can I imagine a worthwhile and exciting future for myself and my friends when the very stability of the world around me is constantly being threatened with irreversible changes to the climate?
"What was extreme is rapidly becoming normal. I’m often frightened to think about it.”
The organisers are aware that not everyone was pleased with the closing of the High Street, but believe it was necessary.
Allan Gray added: "We don't want to be disrupting people. If action was taken on climate change to meet the urgency of what's happening then we wouldn't be out here.
"A small two hours of disruption is very minuscule if we can try and address the ecological crisis."
