These questions are vital to ask ourselves in consideration of our children and our children’s children. What messages are we sending? Who are we electing? What power do we have?
My own relationship with and feeling of responsibility to care for our planet has grown, just as my awareness of animal rights has grown. As a humanity, we are awakening to see how our individual actions affect others. We are learning that what we do, what we think and what we say matters.
In the early 1970s, hundreds of thousands young people demonstrated and protested the war in Vietnam. As a seventh grader, I recall after-school marches with blaring megaphones, calling for action from our government. I was taken up in the swell of rising tides to speak up and speak out. I saw how fulfilling it was to make a difference and stand up for what I felt and believed.
Forty-seven years later, I stood on the shores of China Beach in àNng, Vietnam, remembering the furor of my convictions.
Today, there is a groundswell of youth who are fighting for the planet. They are gaining media attention and organizing global strikes for awareness of climate change. Meet 16-yearold Greta Thunberg, the Swedish activist who has led thousands of students to protest against inaction on climate change in the last few months. Thunberg recently received a nomination for a Nobel Peace Prize.
Writer Amy Percival, in a recent LiveKindly.com article, informs us that, “According to the Nobel Prize website, nominees and nominators cannot usually be published until 50 years have passed. In this case, Norwegian Socialist MP Freddy Andre Ovstegard revealed himself as one of the three Norwegian MPs who nominated Thunberg.” He told Agence France Presse, “We have proposed Greta Thunberg because if we do nothing to halt climate change, it will be the cause of wars, conflict and refugees.” He added, “Greta Thunberg has launched a mass movement which I see as a major contribution to peace.”
This massive movement has traveled throughout the globe. Thunberg, a high school student, has nearly one million followers on Instagram. Recently she inspired Haven Coleman to take action to save the world. The 12-year-old seventh grader from Denver, Colorado is actively addressing state lawmakers, and has a large presence on Twitter to further her cause and bring awareness to policy makers and others. On March 15, 2019, she co-organized the U.S.
Youth Climate Strike, a national student protest where 1.4 million students stayed out of school on a Friday to make their voices heard. Coleman brought the movement to the U.S. along with co-directors 16-year-old Isra Hirsi and 13-year-old Alexandria Villaseñor. The next Youth Climate Strike is set for May 3, 2019.
According to their website:
YouthClimateStrikeUS.org, their Mission Statement says, “We, the youth of America, are striking because the science says we have just a few years to transform our energy system, reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, and prevent the worst effects of climate change. We are striking because our world leaders have yet to acknowledge, prioritize, or properly address our climate crisis.” Read the full mission statement online.
Greta Thunberg’s dedication and commitment is ongoing. It’s apparent, she’s in it to win it, and to gain support and garner as much awareness for climate issues as possible.
This morning, I perused her Instagram feed and discovered a new link on fossil fuels. A new report in “Banking and Climate Change,” published on cleantechnica.com, “shows that 33 global banks provided $1.9 trillion to fossil fuel companies since the adoption of the Paris Climate Agreement at the end of 2015 and that the amount of fossil fuel financing has increased in each of the past two years.” This is alarming news.
“Alarming is an understatement.
This report is a red alert,” said Alison Kirsch, Climate and Energy Lead Researcher at Rainforest Action Network. “The massive scale at which global banks continue to pump billions of dollars into fossil fuels is flatly incompatible with a livable future.”
Thunberg recently spoke at the UN Climate Change Conference in Poland, and she implored the members to hear her plea. She said, “You say you love your children above all else, and yet you’re stealing their future in front of their very eyes.” She added, “I want you to act as you would in a crisis. I want you to act as if our house is on fire. Because it is.”
The tides are changing, and indeed, concerns are heating up, literally. As the water temperature rises throughout the globe, concerns for our population, our safety and our marine life increase.
I remember how it felt to be an activist. I remember the fire in my belly that ignited my passion. I see it happening again, in our own country and throughout the world. The youth are claiming their rightful position, as stewards showing the way to care for our planet. What will you do?
Spring has sprung and the seedlings are growing. The ground is warm now as inspiration ignites our youth. Greta Thunberg is a new leader who calls for action. Let others know: It’s time to take care of our planet, ourselves and each other. Be blessed, be healthy, be aware!