Raging Grannies call for more renewable energy

The Winnipeg Raging Grannies for Social Justice demonstrated at Polo Park on Monday, throwing their support behind Naomi Klein's Leap Manifesto, an environmental campaign endorsed by David Suzuki, Neil Young and other notable Canadians.

"We are raging," said Debby Lake, one of the six demonstrators.

"We are worried about the future of our grandchildren and we want to make sure that they have a planet that they can live on in peace."

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The Raging Grannies are calling on Canadians to respect indigenous rights and move away from fossil fuels. The Leap Manifesto calls for transitioning to 100 per cent renewable energy by 2050, upholding indigenous rights and creating low-carbon jobs.

"We're hoping to help people understand that we can retrofit our homes, we can build new jobs in a green economy, we can fuel our lives with renewable resources, and that's 100 per cent possible by 2050," said Lake.

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Leap Manifesto demonstrations are being organized across Canada to raise attention for the campaign in the lead-up to the first ministers meeting on climate change on March 3 in Vancouver, said a news release.

"2016 is a leap year, when we add a day to our calendars to bring them into sync with the earth's revolution around the sun — a powerful metaphor for the need to change our economic system so that it is in balance with our environment. It is past the time for small steps, we now need to leap," Raging Grannies organizer Jan Graham said in the release.