The Youth are Unstoppable, a Better World is Possible
- Valerie Zimmermann
- Sep 27, 2019
- 3 min read
Updated: Oct 4, 2019
"The Oceans are Rising and So Are We."
That’s what the sign I held read as I walked through my city with several hundred other concerned students and citizens at the Global Climate Strike. 350.org estimates that on Friday, September 20th, 2019, four million people across the world marched through their streets in a call for urgent action in the face of the climate crisis.
Our march was the latest edition of the “School Strike for Climate” or “Fridays for Future” movement. It began in August 2018, when Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg decided to protest outside of Swedish Parliament instead of going to school. These days, Ms. Thunberg speaks at United Nations assemblies, appears on news media around the world, and starts lawsuits against whole countries for human rights violations resulting from a lack of environmental action. She has been hailed as a leader for youth activism and for lighting the fire on climate change action.
Greta Thunberg is not alone in this. Millions of young people are protesting for climate action and several other notable youth leaders have emerged. Autumn Peltier, a member of the Wikwemikong First Nation in Canada, has been a staunch advocate for water conservation for years. In 2018, she asked the United Nations General Assembly to consider giving water legal rights in order to protect the resource. Xiye Bastida is a teen from New York who is passionate about climate change and is leading the New York Fridays for Future strikes, as well as championing the inclusion of indigenous and marginalized voices in the climate change conversation. Mari Copeny has spent years working to bring attention to the water crisis in Flint, Michigan; residents cannot drink the contaminated water of the Flint River without risking serious illness. There are so many incredible young leaders who have stepped forward in recent months. All of these youth, all around the world, are demanding the same thing: that politicians take serious action to address climate change and the environment.
Youth activism has shown that climate change needs to become a serious issue in politics. Young people have successfully mobilized across the world in recent weeks to show clearly that we care about climate issues such as greenhouse gas emissions, severe weather, loss of biodiversity, and rising sea levels. There is no question that climate change should become and continue to be a prominent issue in political and economic forums. I find one key question that has yet to be answered: why can’t the kids stay in school?
Why haven’t the adult leaders - elected, promoted, experienced, and well-paid people- already addressed these issues? It is concerning to me how easily the world has allowed individuals like Greta Thunberg to take this upon their own shoulders. Children are missing elementary and secondary school, students are walking out of colleges and universities, and parents are missing work in order to bring political attention to an issue that is well-documented by science. I think it is high time that the leaders of our countries, of industry, and of businesses started to lead.
Climate change will have a global impact, and we as a global community need action. We need international agreements on emissions reductions and enforceable penalties for breaking commitments. We need to rethink fast fashion and single-use plastic and how our waste manages to end up in the oceans. We need a social, political, and economic movement of drastic proportions in order to make the changes necessary for the Earth to stay below 1.5℃ of warming and to protect global biodiversity from the sixth mass extinction.
Until this starts to happen, the protests must continue. Youth need to voice their concerns and adults need to vote. We need to talk about the issues honestly to understand what can be done. Maybe someday soon, the leaders will start to do their jobs and the youth can go back to being young. In her speech to the United Nations on September 23, Greta told the General Assembly that “you have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words.” She is right to be angry. We all are. And until we see some real action, we will be right here.
References
Arnodly, Ben. September 23, 2019. Greta and 15 Kids Just Claimed their Climate Rights at the UN. Earthjustice. Accessed at https://earthjustice.org/blog/2019-september/greta-thunberg-young-people-petition-UN-human-rights-climate-change
Climate Activist Greta Thunberg Tells UN Climate Summit:’You have stolen my dreams.’ September 23, 2019. CBS news. Accessed at https://www.cbsnews.com/news/greta-thunberg-un-speech-you-have-stolen-my-dreams-climate-activist-tells-climate-summit/
Kent, Melissa. March 22, 2018. Canadian Teen Tells UN ‘Warrior Up’ to protect water. CBC. Accessed at https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/autumn-peltier-un-water-activist-united-nations-1.4584871
Lowry, Mary Pauline. December 11, 2018. This is how one sixth grade girl helped improve Flint’s water crisis. Oprah Magazine. Accessed at https://www.oprahmag.com/life/a25383285/mari-copeny-barack-obama-flint-water-crisis/
Over 4 Million People Strike For Climate Change. September 20, 2019. 350.org. Accessed at https://350.org/press-release/over-4-million-people-strike-for-climate-action/
Sterling, Anna Lucente. September 25, 2019. This Teen Activist is Fighting to Ensure Indigenous and Marginalized Voices are Being Heard. Huffpost. Accessed at
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