Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg was named Time Magazine's Person of the Year for 2019 for her role in trying to raise awareness and force real action on the most pressing issue of our day, climate change.
Yet, that did not slow her down, much less stop her, from taking strong action and cutting through the niceties to get to the heart of the matter in a speech before world leaders assembled in Madrid for the United Nations' annual COP25 climate meeting.
There, she cautioned that while skepticism might be an easy position to fall back on, an injection of positive reinforcement was needed.
"We need a balance of optimism and outrage" in the environmental movement, Thunberg said in Madrid. She added, "We need optimism to keep going and to not give up .... and we need outrage to be able to step outside our comfort zones."
Thunberg pulled no punches, blasting the inaction of wealthy nations and businesses, and dismissing their efforts to fight climate change for being shallow and designed to deceive people into an impression that serious action is being taken. In reality, she said, these efforts actually merely amounted to "clever accounting and creative PR."
She went on:
"This is not leading, this is misleading. Only setting up distant dates and saying things which give the impression that action is underway will most likely do more harm than good.
"Most of these pledges do not include aviation, shipping, importing and exporting goods and consumption, but they do include the possibility for countries to offset their emissions elsewhere. Without seeing the full picture, we will not solve this crisis."
Thunberg has the highest profile of any prominent youth activist on climate change, although she was not the only one who spoke before the world leaders:
"The shortcomings of world leaders and the inequality at the heard of the climate crisis which is "created by rich countries" was also addressed by Ugandan youth activist Hilda Flavia Nakabuye.
"You have been negotiating for the last 25 years, even before I was born," she said. "Do you want the whole of Africa to perish?"
Following her appeal, a group of youth activists staged a sit-in protest at the climate talks which is set to lose a key signatory. President Donald Trump last month wrote a letter to the U.N. to launch the withdrawal process from the international climate pact.
Billionaire and presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg reassured climate activists in Madrid earlier this week that Americans remain committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions "even with a climate change-denier in the White House" touting efforts by U.S. states, cities and businesses to continue to abide by the Paris accord.
Below are the links to the articles I used in writing this particular blog entry, as well as the source from which I took all of the quotes used in the same:
Greta Thunberg is 'Time' Magazine's Person Of The Year For 2019 by Bill Chappell, December 11, 2019:
https://www.npr.org/2019/12/11/787026271/greta-thunberg-is-time-magazine-s-person-of-the-year-for-2019?utm_term=nprnews&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=npr&fbclid=IwAR0p84HNwDDm_u_ixlgtitAvF-NHqG62Ipurx8QNCqVMI4qh7hIG_RFxth8
Greta Thunberg blasts soft emissions targets at U.N. climate summit "This is not leading. This is misleading," the Swedish activist told world leaders at COP25 in Madrid.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/greta-thunberg-blasts-soft-emissions-targets-u-n-climate-summit-n1099551
'Clever accounting and creative PR': Thunberg critiques emissions targets COMMENTS NBC News Logo By Linda Givetash and Associated Press with NBC News World News• last updated: 11/12/2019:
https://www.euronews.com/2019/12/11/greta-thunberg-blasts-soft-emissions-targets-u-n-climate-summit-n1099551
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