This is all wrong. I shouldn't be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you!
You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I'm one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!
For more than 30 years, the science has been crystal clear. How dare you continue to look away and come here saying that you're doing enough, when the politics and solutions needed are still nowhere in sight.
You say you hear us and that you understand the urgency. But no matter how sad and angry I am, I do not want to believe that. Because if you really understood the situation and still kept on failing to act, then you would be evil. And that I refuse to believe.
. . . How dare you pretend that this can be solved with just “business as usual” and some technical solutions. . . . [Y]ou are still not mature enough to tell it like it is.
You are failing us. But the young people are starting to understand your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us, I say: We will never forgive you.
We will not let you get away with this. Right here, right now is where we draw the line. The world is waking up. And change is coming, whether you like it or not.
Writes Chloe Bryan about this image for the ages. . . .
Climate activist Greta Thunberg watched as Donald Trump walked past at the UN Climate Change Summit on Monday. She did not look pleased.
Trump was initially expected not to attend the summit and was meant to be at a session on religious persecution instead. But he showed up, making a brief appearance just before Indian prime minister Narendra Modi's remarks. According to a pool report, he was there for 14 minutes.
Now footage is circulating of 16-year-old Thunberg's reaction to Trump's entrance. It is truly a glare among glares, which makes sense: Trump has called climate change a "hoax," despite incontrovertible evidence to the contrary, and he has promoted a ruthlessly anti-environment agenda during his time as president.
Related Off-site Links:
“How Dare You!”: Greta Thunberg Rages at “Fairytales of Eternal Economic Growth” at UN Climate Summit – Eoin Higgins (Common Dreams, September 23, 2019).
Attacks on Greta Thunberg Come from a Coordinated Network of Climate Change Deniers – Mat Hope (Teen Vogue, September 23, 2019).
Highlights From the Biggest Climate Strike the World Has Ever Seen – TruthDig (September 21, 2019).
As Global Youth Demand Climate Action, Trump Heaps Praise on Coal-Obsessed Australian Leader – Andrea Germanos (Common Dreams, September 19, 2019).
Twenty-five Years Before Greta, There Was Severn and We Ignored Her – Louise Fitzgerald (The Irish Times, September 19, 2019).
Greta Thunberg and George Monbiot Make a Short Film on the Climate Crisis – YouTube (September 19, 2019).
Greta Thunberg Is Right. The U.S.Congress Is Ignoring Science – and That Includes Democrats – Kate Aronoff (The Guardian, September 19, 2019).
Marianne Williamson: Climate Change Is the Result of an “Amoral” Economic System – Zack Budryk (The Hill, September 19, 2019).
Naomi Klein: Greta Thunberg Is a “Prophetic Voice” in Fight for Climate Justice – Democracy Now! (September 17, 2019).
Why is Greta Thunberg So Triggering for Certain Men? – Jennifer O'Connell (The Irish Times, September 7, 2019).
The Misogyny of Climate Deniers – Martin Gelin (The New Republic, August 28, 2019).
An Open Letter to Greta Thunberg – Tim Druck (AfroSaiophile, September 23, 2019).
UPDATES: Donald Trump Mocks Teen Climate Activist Greta Thunberg in Late Night Tweet – John Fritze (USA Today, September 24, 2019).
Greta Thunberg's U.N. Speech Prompted Ugly Insults – Proving Her Critics Can't Fault Her Actual Message – Ezra Marcus (Mic, September 24, 2019).
Greta Thunberg Isn't the Only Trailblazing Young Climate Leader. Activists from the Amazon to Nigeria Share Their Ideas for Battling the Climate Crisis – Hilary Brueck (Insider, September 25, 2019).
UN Climate Action Summit Falls “Woefully Short” of Expectations – Olivia Rosane (EcoWatch, September 24, 2019).
See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Quote of the Day – March 16, 2019
• Five Powerful Responses to the Amazon Fires
• As the World Burns, Calls for a “Green New Deal”
• Jacob Weindling: Quote of the Day – November 19, 2018
• Let Us Be “Energized by the Beauty That Is All Around Us”: Jane Goodall's New Year Message
• Marianne Williamson: Quote of the Day – August 29, 2017
• The People's Climate Solidarity March – Minneapolis, 4/29/17
• Prayer of the Week – April 24, 2017
• “It Is All Connected”
• Standing in Prayer and Solidarity with the Water Protectors of Standing Rock
• Standing Together
Image 1: Source.
Image 2: Reuters.
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