This is now a thing in Europe … why not here? Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg has inspired a rash of strikes by teenagers in the UK, who know that the adults of their world are destroying their very future.
LONDON — Thousands of British children marched out of lessons on Friday to demand action on climate change, earning a mild rebuke from the prime minister’s office for disrupting classes, but praise from the energy minister and activists.
Youngsters marched on Parliament Square in London and gathered in other cities carrying banners marked with “Climate change is worse than homework”, “Act now for our future” and other slogans.
British PM Theresa May’s administration had the bad judgment to tut-tut the protesters. But any sense that the adults are acting in the responsible, adult fashion here is straight out the window. And Thunberg is having none of it.
“It’s sometimes annoying when people say, ‘Oh you children, you young people are the hope. You will save the world’” she said, after several grown-ups had told her just that. “I think it would be helpful if you could help us just a little bit.”
This is signature Greta. Wry. Blunt. Sometimes sarcastic. The opposite of sweet.It surfaced again on Friday, when Prime Minister Theresa May’s office dismissed school walkouts in Britain as a distraction that “wastes lesson time.” Greta swiftly struck back on Twitter: “But then again, political leaders have wasted 30 yrs of inaction. And that is slightly worse.”
So, where are the parents? Not to put the kids back in school, but to protect their childrens’ lives? Even animals protect their young; why do we lead our own children to the Moloch of weather disasters, flooding, starvation, mass migration, and chaos?
It shouldn’t be left up to the kids. As Thunberg says, instead of looking for hope, look for action.
gmoke says
Greta Thunberg at the EU yesterday: https://youtu.be/iTvGwjcBCL8
March 15 is the global school strike for climate change. Even old people like me can join them if we want to.
SomervilleTom says
It is ironic that on the very same day that this is happening, our government is appointing a notorious climate change denier to a newly-created committee that appears intent on further rollbacks to our already utterly meaningless climate change efforts.
This is just another example of the long and growing list of ways that this Russian puppet is destroying the fabric of America and the world.
The Trump administration and its Collaborators need to be removed from office — yesterday.