Let the children rise up and speak

LET the children rise up and speak. That is what is now happening across the world since that brave child, 16-year-old Greta Thunberg, went on strike from school one Friday to sit in front of the Swedish parliament building with her sign board calling for students to go on strike for the climate. Millions of people have joined her protest against the dolittle or nothing governments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that are dramatically and dangerously changing the world’s climate.

Last September 20, Greta led the biggest movement of climate activists that the planet has ever seen. Amazingly, millions of children and youth across the globe rose up and marched in towns and cities to protest and demand governments to take the political action to curb the rise in global temperatures. It was the single biggest march in history, with an estimated 4 million people taking to the streets in 161 countries to raise their voices and be heard. Greta is a leading figure in this new movement by children and youth — from kindergarten to college — that have no vote but have their feet, placards and voices to sing, shout and raise a ruckus to get the world’s attention to the coming disaster that is descending on the planet if we don’t stop the temperature rising above 1.5 degrees Celsius ( C).

She is an inspiration for millions of children and youth around the world who, as they are the next generation, will be most negatively affected by the disaster to the environment. They will struggle to survive in a world without plants and flowers and butterflies, bees, animals and birds. Crops will diminish and floods and droughts will continue unabated. Food prices will go up and be unavailable in many poor countries. Hunger and starvation are likely. There will be wars over water and arable land, as the population continues to grow in developing countries. There will be an increase in the number of displaced people and greater migration will be the result.

In her remarkable speech during the United Nations 2019 Climate Action Summit in New York on September 23, Greta delivered a powerful speech filled with emotion, anger, challenge and the harsh truth. “How dare you! You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words,” she said.

The summit highlights the urgent need for governments around the world to do more to meet the Paris agreement standards to reduce emissions and hold global warming at 1.5 C, but carbon dioxide ( CO2) has actually increased by 20 percent in the past two years. So, the goals and standards set in Paris will not be met. The action by Greta and the millions of youth around the world is what the youth can do to wake up governments and push them to act and take political risks to curb the release of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere.

“For more than 30 years, the science has been crystal clear. How dare you continue to look away and come here saying that you are doing enough, when the politics and solutions needed are still nowhere in sight,” she said.

“The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us, I say we will never forgive you. We will not let you get away with this. Right here, right now is where we draw the line. The world is waking up. And change is coming, whether you like it or not,” she said.

Yes, change is coming but not the positive kind that we all wish for and need if we will have a more sustainable world where we can all live in peace. But it is a hard road into the hearts and minds of the climate skeptics who believe that it is all fake news and a gimmick by fanatical tree- hugging activists or scientists paid by the corporations behind wind turbines and solar panels out to beat the oil industry and grab the market. Whatever anyone says, the teenager is focused on the one important thing that is affecting our world and is inspiring millions of young people to act in combating the rise in global temperatures. Only months ago, she was a lonely, apparently eccentric girl, sitting outside Swedish parliament with a protest poster calling for climate action. Today she has addressed the UN body of world leaders and has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

In general, the politicians in the UN General Assembly sat there with stony faces — unmoved and uncaring for the most part. That is the nature of corrupt political leaders. They abuse their power to benefit themselves. If it is corruption by selling fossil fuels or being a part of the industry, so be it. They will support moneymaking businesses to get contributions for reelection, and become rich and secure their