Stop blaming Greta for the mess we’re in
Greta Thunberg, slayer of dragons — and many a middle-aged male dinosaur! If the past few weeks are anything to go by, you could be forgiven for thinking that this tiny teen is the single biggest threat to mankind (gender-specific nomenclature intentional) — not the grim reality of climate change that she is railing so passionately against.
Recent events in the global warming sphere have offered a mixture of inspiration, hope, progress — and a sadly shameful picture of adult human behaviour.
Thunberg’s star has risen astronomically over the past year — although the Swedish schoolgirl environmental activist would be the first one to admit she does not want to be seen as a star, does not want to be standing on the highest-profile stages in the world addressing global leaders, should not have to be sailing the Atlantic to highlight the world’s plight, and certainly should not be subject to vile internet trolling and bullying — much of it from those far older, supposedly wiser, and more powerful than she is.
As she says, she should be in school, concentrating on her education, and looking forward to a long and fulfilling life ahead.
Yet, utterly sick of the world’s painfully slow response to the threats posed by climate change, and genuinely concerned for the future of her generation, the planet and the human race, her weekly “school strike for climate” protests outside the Swedish parliament have snowballed into a global youth movement.
In the past year, Fridays for Future has inspired millions of youngsters to take to the streets, caused world leaders to sit up and take notice, and upset a certain sector of the population who are clearly still convinced little women should be seen and not heard. “How dare she?”
But this quirky, courageous kid has undoubtedly helped shift the global climate change conversation.
Through her passion and fearlessness, she has engaged the hearts and minds of youth around the world and many adults, too. She has done this partly by making the issue an unashamedly emotional one, and yes, by blaming and shaming and provoking a personal reaction. She has finally made many people “feel” the issue in a way that science alone has failed to. Yet she doesn’t pretend to have any of the answers, and continues to direct us back to the words of the scientists we have been ignoring for so long. She apparently isn’t personally interested in power, money or self-advancement; she simply wants to save the world — for all of us. And we “dare” criticise her?
If she has got under our skin, made some of us hot under the collar, that can only be a positive thing. We should not just be sweating about the world we have helped create, and the cycle of greed and perceived need we insist on sustaining. We should be as mortified about our predicament as she is enraged.
We must stop blaming the messengers. Could the real adults in the room now please stand up?