She may be young, but her message was powerful.10 year old Neave Allen -- a grade 5 Beairsto student -- made a presentation to Vernon council, urging them to do more to stop climate change. "It was scary. I was very nervous because I was afraid I'd mess up, or say something I wasn't supposed to say, and I was afraid they would laugh at me. But my grandma told me, 'No they won't laugh at you. They are not allowed to do that.'" Allen would like to see more solar panels used in buildings, and smaller parking lots to force more people to walk. "I thought maybe making green roofs on all flat roofs like Walmart, the Superstore and even the library. Solar panels would allow them to sell the electricity back and make money from that. We could have bicycle sharing programs so you can rent a bike, so people don't have to drive everywhere," Allen told the media. Allen is the grand daughter of former Green party candidate Huguette Allen. "I was glad they (council) were actually paying attention and that they actually had some questions about what they could do because if they didn't have any questions I would be concerned they weren't going to do anything about it." She says she's considering making her presentation to the Regional District of North Okanagan board. Mayor Rob Sawatzky says Allen made some great points, but adds cities are limited in what they can do on green issues by senior levels of government. "Especially our federal Conservative government which seems to have no belief in climate change and important things that we should be doing."
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