Quoted from:
Something new and horrible
Why? Because I work in the oil industry?
I think someone like Greta was inevitable. A great many issues are only resolved when one polarising individual stands up and says, "enough, no more!"
I have great respect for her fortitude, for picking her fight and having the courage and sheer bloody-mindedness to stick with it when everybody around her was telling her to go back to school. I also have great respect for the adults around her that recognised that she has the potential to be a catalyst for change, and gave her a platform, instead of - as has happened to many potential catalysts before - being punished for their "misbehaviour" and forced to comply until that spark is extinguished.
I'm also somewhat concerned for her welfare: she's now mixing with powerful people, who will want to use her for their own ends, and hope that she has a strong enough support network to shield her from people who would turn her into a product for sale.
About her message, however, I'm of mixed opinion. The basic thrust, that change needs to happen, and needs to happen now... is absolutely correct. Fossil fuels are extremely versatile - simply burning them is just a tremendous waste. The need for change is immediate and obvious. That much I agree with.
I agree that we need to explore natural solutions - regreening, better land and water resource management, replanting of forests. I agree that this will need changes in consumption habits and behaviours. I think she's less clear on the depth and breadth of technological solutions available to us, which will develop as her exposure to, and grounding in, the necessary sciences develops. Mitigating* the damage requires a combination of both.
Where I become a little unstuck, however, is with her rhetoric. Yes, I know that people trying to effect change need shock factor. They need to be difficult, and forthright, and definitely need to be rude. But her recent turn towards divisiveness, using the language of "betrayal" and pitching the young against the old are, I fear, mistakes that will limit her effectiveness later.
The adults of today are, after all, the people that will need to build - and fund - the changes she's demanding.
* note, we're a long way off repairing the damage. Even the 2030/2050 pledge for carbon neutrality is a mitigation, not a repair.
No dummy, because your British, have two young children.":O}
I have never questioned what you feel you must do to earn a living/ Have you ?":O}
I said many years ago (When no one was around to start quoiting me,)
that it is getting harder and harder to find a way to earn a living that isn't a form of long term suicide.
In terms of climate what we do we do together, what is permitted is permitted by us all.
( you guys can start quoting me now.":O}
I don't think that she is divisive. I think she recognizes the existing divisions.
The root of all evil isn't money (greed). it is our persistent indifference to the good.
In mass, humanity only cares a little for what is right, they care more for what they want.
Greta's task is to change this. To unveil the evil that comes from such indifference.
Greta must face a power elite that doesn't care two shits for what will become of her after they are finally gone. The science she is advocating tells her exactly what her fate will be if we cannot rein in the power elite.
And that's why I posted "Fearless Girl"
I think of her as mother natures last warning. Mother Natures last attempt to straighten what has become crooked within us as a whole.
That last peace entreaty , before mother nature turns loose our children to rip that economic bull to pieces.
"Experience should fear the energy of youth."
Greta understands that we are stealing the resources that properly belong to future generations.
She understands that "This is all wrong I should not be here.I should be across the ocean in school."
That "You have stolen my dreams, my childhood"
Greta has I fear one terrible lesson to learn.
Alas those who oppose her are truly evil.
They have and will sacrifice all just to have their own.
Greta is one of the great lights of this world and so makes an enemy of darkness.
But her light will attract the best among us to lend her their aid and protection.
Don't be surprised if your boys find her call irresistible.
What an old man sees and understands, they will have to live and breathe.
They will have to make this right all of it, or perish.
Greta has lite a candle that will ignite the world.Flame passing from candle to candle until the darkness has no where left to hide.
Because science.
Greta has told her generation the truth. This is our fight, we must fight or we will all die terrible deaths. Our parents are failing us.
Millions gathered all over the world and have every intention to continue together until they have righted our world.
Finally the point you make I find myself in disagreement.
Today adults have abdicated their personal responsibility. We have done nothing of significance to elevate the situation. That's what is freaking her out.
Hers is a call to arms. A call to youth to not go down with this rat infested ship. To storm the bridge and seize the wheel and chart a course away from apocalyptic doom.
She swings the sword of scientific insight which has laid low ten thousand bad or mistaken ideas.
But more than this, more than all, She issues a warning of a threat no parent can withstand.
"If you fail us we will never forgive you."
Fearless girl has arrived.
Now we will test her beyond human endurance,
If she can survive us she can liberate us.
