Not even when addressing the world's most powerful people.
Right here, right now is where we draw the line. Even at 1 degree of warming we are seeing an unacceptable loss of life and livelihoods.So where do we begin?
Or already locked in warming hidden by toxic air pollution. Silence. Start your Independent Premium subscription today.I also have a dream: that governments, political parties and corporations grasp the urgency of the climate and ecological crisis and come together despite their differences – as you would in an emergency – and take the measures required to safeguard the conditions for a dignified life for everybody on earth.Because then – we millions of school striking youth – could go back to school.I have a dream that the people in power, as well as the media, start treating this crisis like the existential emergency it is. Who are her parents?Greta Thunberg: How she convinced parents to be veganGreta Thunberg speech: The planet is suffering the effects of climate change Greta Thunberg speech: The climate activist has many supporters around the globe “If I … This is the biggest crisis humanity has ever faced.And we need to treat it accordingly so that people can understand and grasp the urgency. We don’t need a “low-carbon economy.” We don’t need to “lower emissions.” Our emissions have to stop to stay if we are to have a chance to stay below the 1.5 degrees target. Creative accounting will not help us. Because if you fully understood the situation and still kept on failing to act, then you would be evil. We will not let you get away with this. I said I wanted you to panic. No political ideology or economic structure has been able to tackle the climate and environmental emergency and create a cohesive and sustainable world. That it seemed so bad for the economy that we decided to resign the idea of securing future living conditions without even trying?Our house is still on fire. You’re the ones who are giving up.Last week I met with coal miners in Poland who lost their jobs because their mine was closed. Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old climate change activist from Sweden, condemned world leaders for failing to tackle global warming and the climate crisis. And yet they all seem so certain that their political plan will solve the entire crisis.But how can we solve a problem that we don’t even fully understand? As we emit about 42 Gtonnes of CO2 every year, if you include land use.With today’s emissions levels, that remaining budget is gone within less than 8 and a half years. But the young people are starting to understand your betrayal. She called for urgent action, stressing the need for 'real zero' emissions. That would be impossible to morally defend. But the problem we are facing is not that we lack the ability to dream, or to imagine a better world. Greta Thunberg EPA Harris interjects, “No, but Greta, do not be discouraged. This is not something you can package and sell or ”like” on social media.Stop pretending that you, your business idea, your political party or plan will solve everything. How wonderful everything is going to be when we have “solved” everything. This is above all an emergency, and not just any emergency. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. I have to tell myself it’s for a good cause.“I am trying to say something with all this attention, to use my platform to do something good.” See today's front and back pages, download the newspaper, But I guess that hardly any of you have heard that there is a 50 per cent chance of staying below a 1.5 degree Celsius of global temperature rise above pre-industrial levels. These numbers are not my opinions. People are suffering. It is also the world’s number one producer of oil. Her back story is a doozy. Because that is what the united science calls for, to avoid destabilising the climate, so that we stay clear of setting off an irreversible chain reaction beyond human control. You have the ability to see what is possible in a way that many do … Stop telling people that everything will be fine when in fact, as it looks now, it won’t be very fine. The world is waking up. And yes, of course a sustainable transformed world will include lots of new benefits.