I have a seen a particular post about half a dozen times today that points out how ridiculous it is that Greta Thunberg has had to take on the world’s governments to force them to confront the realities of climate change.
And I agree with the sentiment, we can’t pretend that the way that the earth is being treated isn’t having dire consequences. We’re fast approaching the point of no return and in the near future there are going to be climate refugees who are forced to flee homes that have become unliveable. And OF COURSE it’s ridiculous that a literal child has to stand before some of the most powerful people on the planet, on the brink of tears, fighting for an uncertain future and try and stir some semblance of compassion or eke a modicum of shame from these people when they were aware of the problem decades ago.
My problem with this fucking post is the line “it is EMBARRASSING that the 4.5 billion people over the age of 30 on earth right now are looking to one teenager to fix the problems they created”
I want to say this as simply as possible:
The generation war is diversionary tactic used to keep you from being angry at the people you should be angry at.
This is not age thing. This is a class thing and a wealth thing. The people you should be blaming for this mess are the 1% of people hoarding their wealth and running billion dollar companies that obstruct the policy changes that will save our planet because it will downgrade them from billionaires to millionaires.
There have been scientists and activists and campaigners doing saying what Greta Thunberg has been saying for decades. Is she a hero? Undoubtably but she’s one who is standing on the shoulders of other heroes.
Here is David Attenborough (93 years old) attacking the Australian PM for supporting the coal industry, giving evidence to a UK parliamentary committee or the dangers of ignoring climate change and making a documentary on climate change for BBC1. That documentary was on at prime time on a major channel with a remit for educating as well as entertaining so producers (most likely OVER 30) thought it was a important enough to broadcast.
How about Jane Goodall (a baby compared to Attenborough, she’s only 85) outlining four issues relating to climate change for Time magazine, or starting a programme educating young people about the environment in 1991 or starting a global foundation dedicated to conservation and advocacy. Goodall pioneered a different way of studying animals in the 1960s.
Here’s Dr Tara Stoinski, CEO and chief scientist of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund talking about how climate change will affect Gorillas.
Here is yet another primatologist, German scientist Birutė Galdikas talking about deforestation. She has been studying and campaigning for over forty years.
Extinction Rebellion was co founded by Dr Gail Bradbrook (47 years old) and her partner Simon Bramwell. Bradbrook has been interested in animals rights since the age of 14 and joined the Green Party at that time. She also directed an anti-fracking movement called Transition Stroud, before Extinction Rebellion. (Not climate change related but she spent 15 years as director of strategy Citizens Online who campaign for better internet access for disabled people which is neat).
Roger Hallam is 53 and another co-founder of Extinction Rebellion and also the co-operative federation Radical Routes. He’s an organic farmer and this year he was put on trial for protesting KCL’s (where he’s doing a PhD in Civil Disobedience) investment in the fossil fuel industry. Not only did a court rule it was an appropriate response to the climate crisis (meaning that a jury, containing people over 30 most likely decided that) but KCL removed £14m worth of investments from fossil fuel companies and pledged to become carbon neutral by 2025. He wrote an essay called Common Sense For The Twenty-First Century you can read for free on his website.
The lawyer Polly Higgins died this year aged 50. She co-founded a solar energy company and devoted her career to ecocide law.
Greenpeace was founded in 1971, the WWF in 1961 and Sea Shepherd in 1977.
The Sierra Club was first founded in 1892. 18-fucking-92.
Are these people and organisations perfect. No. But they’re there, they’ve been there for a while and they care.
This is not a generational thing. The more they turn us against each other the more they are stopping us from fighting for our survival,
One last point, I’m aware that the examples above are very white and very western. I know that some of you will know about indigenous movements, individuals from more diverse backgrounds and people and groups that are generally overlooked. Please add them. One, it shows we are all in this together and two, it helps us all to be aware of the myriad of voices in this fight.
