The first politics class for the year saw our room bulging with members keen to discuss recent events. We barely touched on the changes that had occurred during the break and we did not get to the schoolkids who are taking political action on climate change. A new movement was started by Greta Thunberg, a Swedish teenager, who commenced a lonely vigil outside the Swedish parliament, demanding urgent climate action. This is now a worldwide movement and Greta recently spoke at the World Economic forum, a meeting for the IMF and the super-rich.
Greta quoted the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change data that gives us 12 years to undo our past mistakes before it is too late. She told the forum that
“Some say we should not engage in activism. Instead we should leave everything to our politicians and just vote for change instead. But what do we do when there is no political will?
What do we do when the politics needed are nowhere in sight?
Adults keep saying: we owe it to the young people to give them hope.
But I don’t want your hope. I don’t want you to be hopeful. I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day. And then I want you to act.
I want you to act as if our house is on fire. Because it is.”
I am impressed by the action that Greta and others took to draw attention to the disaster they see threatening and am disappointed that there is a pushback from adults, especially those in power to undermine their actions. I think their fears should be addressed.
Terry Case
Greta quoted the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change data that gives us 12 years to undo our past mistakes before it is too late. She told the forum that
“Some say we should not engage in activism. Instead we should leave everything to our politicians and just vote for change instead. But what do we do when there is no political will?
What do we do when the politics needed are nowhere in sight?
Adults keep saying: we owe it to the young people to give them hope.
But I don’t want your hope. I don’t want you to be hopeful. I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day. And then I want you to act.
I want you to act as if our house is on fire. Because it is.”
I am impressed by the action that Greta and others took to draw attention to the disaster they see threatening and am disappointed that there is a pushback from adults, especially those in power to undermine their actions. I think their fears should be addressed.
Terry Case
