Thunberg set for climate summit
TEEN ACTIVIST CALLS PROTESTS ‘ONLY THE START’
>>NEW YORK: Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swedish climate activist whose one-person strikes in Stockholm helped ignite a global movement, called Friday’s global climate protests as “only the beginning”, ahead of a UN youth climate summit that she was set to participate in yesterday.
“Change is coming whether they like it or not,” said Thunberg, hitting out at sceptics as she wrapped up the massive day of action in New York, where she said that 250,000 protested.
“Why should we study for a future that is being taken away from us?” She asked. “We demand a safe future. Is that really too much to ask?”
“Right now we are the ones who are making a difference. If no one else will take action, then we will,” Thunberg told demonstrators. “We demand a safe future. Is that really too much to ask?”
Thunberg and 500 other youth environmentalists from around the world were to take part in the first-ever Youth Climate Summit yesterday.
Meanwhile, tomorrow, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has convened a Climate Action Summit where more than 60 world leaders will take to the podium to present greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals.
Around the world on Friday, masses of young people poured into the streets on every continent for a day of global climate protests. Organisers estimated the turnout to be around 4 million in thousands of cities and towns worldwide.
It was the first time that children and young people had demonstrated to demand climate action in so many places and in such numbers around the world.
They turned out in force in Berlin, where police estimated 100,000 participants, with similar numbers in Melbourne, Australia, and in London. In New York City, the mayor’s office estimated that 60,000 people marched through the narrow streets of Lower Manhattan, while organisers put the total at 250,000.
By the dozens in some places, and by the tens of thousands in others, young people demonstrated in cities like Manila, Philippines; Kampala, Uganda; and Rio de Janeiro. A group of scientists rallied in Antarctica.
“You had a future, and so should we,” demonstrators chanted as they marched through New York City. Then, “We vote next.” Banners in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, ranged from serious to humorous. One read, “Climate Emergency Now.” Another said, “This planet is getting hotter than my imaginary boyfriend.” In Mumbai, children in oversize raincoats marched in the rain. A sign in Berlin declared, “Stop the Global Pyromania.”
Whether this global action actually solves the problem that the protesters have identified — arresting greenhouse gas emissions to stave off a climate catastrophe — now depends on how effectively climate advocates can turn Friday’s momentum into sustained political pressure on governments and companies that produce those emissions.
Nowhere is that more true than in the United States, which has produced more emissions than any country since the start of the industrial age, and which is now rolling back a suite of environmental regulations under President Donald Trump. Organisers said there were demonstrations in all 50 United States.
“In no way is today the end goal but is only a catalyst for future mobilisation,” said Azalea Danes, 16, a high school student in New York City. “We will continue to strike.”