So let me start by saying that about one and a half months ago, as I was preparing to leave for vacation, I made an active decision to try and take a break from politics and all of that nonsense. In other words, to extend my vacation to a break from dealing with the stress of politics, particularly anything to do with the man who is presently occupying the White House, but has done nothing to warrant the official title that he now holds.
Eventually, I knew that there would be a return to my discussing politics. But it took surprisingly long. I found myself feeling better, and a bit less stressed, trying not to think about it or even talk about it for a while, and especially not delving into it at length in one of these blog entries.
However, something happened yesterday which made me feel that it was time to end my silence and jump back in.
No, it has nothing to do with Trump's apparent repeated attempts to get the leader of a foreign nation to try and dig up dirt on a political opponent. Nor does it have anything to do with any number of other frankly embarrassing things regarding Donald Trump, as his insistence on embarrassing the country that he officially represents knows no bounds. Of course, he has tirelessly and relentlessly humiliated Americans with his arrogant and ignorant conduct for years now, but it is not about that. The most that he is attached to this story at all is in his absence in it, which in and of itself is pretty telling and, frankly, an embarrassment. But given how his presence, and especially his words, always seem to make every situation worse, perhaps his absence was, in some strange way, a blessing.
I am talking about the United Nations conference on the climate crisis, which the Trump White House did not feel was important enough to even have American representation for. It is an embarrassing and shameful position to take, of course. However, we can hardly claim that it is a surprising one anymore. By now, we surely all know what Trump's game is. His presence in the White House - where he should never have been in the first place - coupled with his deliberate absence from this conference, in and of itself speaks volumes about the very arrogant and indifferent mindset to the climate crisis that he and the rich friends he works so hard to protect historically have always had towards their own contributions to creating the climate crisis to begin with.
So let us forget him and not mention his name from here on out. Let us discuss someone who is the polar opposite, in fact. A teenage girl who has become the clearest and strongest voice for action on addressing the very real climate crisis.
Greta Thunberg, the teen activist who has effectively become the most readily identifiable face and voice of global youth activism on the climate crisis, delivered a powerful, and uncharacteristically emotional speech before assembled world leaders at the 2019 United Nations Climate Action Summit.
She did not mince words, nor pull her punches. She opened up with a tearful warning:
“My message [to world leaders] is that we’ll be watching you...I shouldn’t be here. I should be back home, at school…. You come to us young people for hope. How dare you! You have stolen my childhood and my dreams. And I am one of the lucky ones. People all over the world are suffering and dying. And all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!”
Thunberg continued:
“For more than 30 years, the science has been crystal clear. How dare you look away and say that you are doing enough!”
She noted that the budget to deal with the 1.5 degree Celcius rise in temperatures in the future will be exhausted in less than a decade, according to the scientists of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and then blasted the world leaders for what he called their "business as usual" approach on this impending catastrophe:
“How dare you pretend that this can be solved with business as usual?”
She went on to predict that none of the speeches from assembled leaders would actually address this reality, she dismissed them as “still not mature enough to tell it like it is.”
Then, betraying her anger, she offered a scathing indictment to the indifference of these leaders of the world:
“You are betraying us…. If you choose to fail us, then I say, ‘We will never forgive you.’”
What a speech, and what a moment for her! Her passion and refusal to pull punches, in the knowledge that she and other members of her generation who will inherit the mess that has been generations in the making, is so refreshing compared to the largely indifferent approach taken by far too many - including many young people - towards the climate crisis. Hell, we here in this country have far more climate change deniers than any other nation in the world, even while historically, we Americans have been responsible for far more of the carbon gas emissions that have contributed to warming temperatures than any other nation in the world, going back many decades.
Shameful!
Let us hope that the absence of any American delegation continues not to diminish the urgency to take action and at least address this very real crisis. And let us hope that Thunberg and other members of the future generations who will inherit this mess will indeed force world leaders to finally, actually take this seriously, instead of merely posing as concerned citizens pretending to take serious action, while actually simply masking their own selfish political and business concerns, and their reluctance to take more serious action. We really have no time to waste, if it is indeed not already too late.
Please watch the video below of Thunberg's speech (at least a part of it, the part that has made far and away the most headlines). It is very powerful, and more people need to see and understand this, because this is the voice of future generations, the ones who did nothing to produce the climate crisis, yet will be facing the consequences of our collective actions, over the course of many generations, in blind pursuit of money and greed and "strong economic growth."
This is what people in the future will indeed think of us, and our collective indifference. to the crisis that we have all actively contributed to in our own ways. Frankly, this probably qualifies as the worst crime in all of human history. The native Americans who warned us that the ways of the conquering new immigrants would indeed lead to catastrophe have proven true.
Here is the link to the article I used in writing this, and from which I obtained all of the quotes used above:
“How Dare You!” Greta Thunberg Rebukes World Leaders “We will not let you get away with this,” the 16-year-old climate strike leader tells the UN Climate Action Summit. By Mark Hertsgaard, September 23, 2019:
https://www.thenation.com/article/climate-summit-greta/
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