Make way for today’s youth
Ongoing climate strikes have people talking.
Politicians claim to be listening.
If anything good comes out of these strikes and the global attention they are receiving it is that youth will find their voice and some hope in the promise that together they will try to repair the damage done to this planet so that they can come out from under the dark cloud of climate change.
The young Greta Thunberg has said that a sense of terror and panic is what has driven her to speak out and call for mobilization but we need this generation to be energized with the possibilities of innovation, not weighed down by fear.
It is a tough time to be the up and coming citizens of planet earth. They are constantly criticized as being a generation of techno geeks, glued to their phones, lacking in social skills and motivation.
No matter how many good decisions are made by individuals of whatever age, no matter the sacrifice, the depravation, there are some polluters that have no intention of sacrificing their bottom line for the sake of polar ice.
The young people striking today will hopefully be the law makers of the near future and will put in place measures to radically curb consumption and penalize those who scoff at warnings of rising sea levels and droughts. Thunberg is right. It is terrifying and most of us are paralyzed by it. We know that recycling and planting trees isn’t really going to solve the problem on a global scale but we need something to keep us going each day. Certain generations have failed to address the problem, opting instead for decades of denial. Other generations have had their chance in office and weren’t able to break through the lobby stronghold. Who better than a generation of young, intelligent, tech savvy, anti consumer, non-materialists to break through? If the old guard would step aside and admit they either don’t know what to do or haven’t been persuasive enough to bring their plans to fruition, a space could be made for answers. The scientists are certain, the data has been collected and yet there is still a wall to climb over. We have to believe that these youth that are making waves are the ones who will work together to dig under it if they must, for their survival.
So encourage your children to become activists because even if the act of striking in itself doesn’t make for tangible change it certainly won’t hurt. But maybe they will feel a spark and one day remember that climate change has been a constant theme in their lives and will inform their every decision. Hopefully it will keep them from being absorbed into the current ethos and make climate action the only acceptable option.
