Act on climate today for children tomorrow

I AM increasingly concerned about climate change and the lack of coverage given to the fact that this is such an enormous issue for every person on the planet, but especially for the young.

It’s our grandchildren’s future. In the late 1980s, after almost a decade of debate on climate change, there was an opportunity for global leaders to freeze carbon emissions with a target to reduce emissions by 20% by 2005. If this was achieved, global warming could be kept to less than 1.5ºC.

James Hansen, the world’s leading scientist on climate change, had predicted in 1979 that the climate would warm by 1ºC before 2020, if no significant action was taken to reduce fossil fuels.

The US was a global leader in fossil fuel emissions, responsible for over 30%, and needed to be a leader in reducing them.

Ronald Reagan took no action to limit emissions. The planet has warmed by the predicted 1ºC.

Donald Trump is mirroring his predecessor’s inactivity. The two most powerful men on the planet were and are impotent in the face of the future, which is human civilisation’s demise because of very short-term political interests or cowardice.

The Swedish teenage climate activist, Greta Thunberg, in contrast, is doing everything she can to incentivise action from the world’s political elite.

In the face of overwhelming scientific evidence, her actions reflect who is going to feel the pain in the future.

She knows that her young generation will have to pay for the current elders’ emissions. Socioeconomically, the poor will suffer what the rich deserve.

We have only one planet. There is nowhere else to go.

We have a moral responsibility to act on behalf of our children and their children.

It’s not all about political, economic and legal considerations, which we may see as beyond our capacity. Let us use our voice today for the sake of our children tomorrow.

IRIS SHERIFFS | Constantia