She's baaaaack!
Do you remember 16 year old Greta Thunberg from COP24, the global gathering hosted by Poland at the end of 2018, at which knowledgeable people and luminaries pontificated on the best way to deal with climate change without doing much of anything different, and Ms Thunberg's voice rang pure and clear?
“For 25 years countless people have come to the UN climate conferences begging our world leaders to stop emissions and clearly that has not worked as emissions are continuing to rise. So I will not beg the world leaders to care for our future,” she said. “I will instead let them know change is coming whether they like it or not.”
Remember her now?
She was at the World Economic Forum in Davos this past week, and once again she made an impact
She's already mobilised more than 100 000 teens worldwide. Perhaps adults will now listen to her as well. While many of the participants in the greatest annual gathering of capitalists arrived in private jets and launched into earnest discussions of how business can contribute to mitigating climate change (stop flying in private jets would be a heck of a start), Ms Thunberg has not diluted her focus or her disdain for those who say they want to act on behalf of our children yet do nothing to change their own behaviour.
According to the World Economic Forum's own reporting:
Thunberg dismissed the usual admonishments that climate is complex. She has grown impatient when grown-ups explain to her that structural reform is hard, sensitive, intricate, takes time, and that nothing in life is black and white. “That is a lie,” she countered. “Either we prevent temperatures from rising above 1.5 degrees (Celsius), or we don’t. Either we avoid chain reaction of unravelling ecosystems, or we don’t. That’s as black or white as it gets. Now we all have a choice: we can either create transformational action or continue with business as usual and fail.”
Much more bluntly, she said:
"I don't want your hope. I don't want you to be hopeful. I want you to panic...and act as if the house was on fire."
Watch and listen to her here:
Ready to panic yet?
References
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/01/our-house-is-on-fire-16-year-old-greta-thunberg-speaks-truth-to-power/
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/01/25/europe/greta-thunberg-davos-world-economic-forum-intl/index.html
https://www.theguardian.com/science/video/2019/jan/25/i-want-you-to-panic-16-year-old-greta-thunberg-issues-climate-warning-at-davos-video
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jan/25/our-house-is-on-fire-greta-thunberg16-urges-leaders-to-act-on-climate
Nice.