I am going to say nothing. I am going to be very quiet. I am going to listen to a 16 year old. You are invited to join me if you have a little under 4 minutes to spare:
Greta Thunberg has a number of presentations on YouTube, and each one is a very direct attack on the lack of a political will to address climate change …and the potentially catastrophic consequences. This young lady needs to be heard by as many people as possible, so please considering sharing through your social media accounts. Thank you.
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Ms. Thunberg is a very inspirational young person. I’m sad she has been forced to be the voice of the world when it should have been us adults.
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Totally agree. Criticism has been levied at the agency that is using her but, if the decision makers are not taking climate change seriously, then she becomes a very persuasive spokesperson. I just hope that she can handle the stress that must be a part of such a task.
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I only wish a good life for this indomitable spirit cleverly disguised as a young woman. Hopefully accomplishing the seemingly impossible where “adults” should be leading the way for a better tomorrow.
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Unless we address the Climate Crisis now, and it is a crisis, at some point there will not be a need to worry about much else because we are on the way to an inhabitable planet. Benjamin and I have followed Greta Thunberg since learning about her “Fridays For Future” begun in August of 2018. As a result, Benjamin can speak intelligently about Climate Change…more so than many adults. If a 5 1/2 year old can understand and accept these truths, what then can be an adult’s excuse? When asked who his hero is, Benjamin responds “Greta!”. When asked why his hero isn’t Batman or Superman Benjamin says : “Greta is real, they aren’t. We need to listen to Greta.” I listened to Greta’s United Nations speech as she presented it and was brought to tears by her impassioned words. I was also struck by the unsurprising absence of president Trump and his later tweet. My generation and my children’s generation have ignored our planet’s cries for mercy. We have handed our malfeasance and dereliction of duty to all of the young Greta’s. Yet many adults have the nerve to question their maturity, knowledge and sincerity about changing the future that is unfolding in front of them. “How dare you!” indeed!! Thank-you for this post!
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Always appreciate your thoughts Ellen.
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I do apologize for my sermon on a soapbox. I am constantly incensed by the Trump administration’s rollbacks by the EPA that are undoing everything that science proves we need to be increasing not decreasing. The United States should be a leader implementing a positive plan to avert the Climate Crisis, at the very least a follower…sadly we are neither. Thank-you!
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🙂
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I had tears in my eyes listening to her powerful and emotional speech. She is an incredible young lady who goes for her goal and doesn’t give a sh** on haters.
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Hi Erika. It’s pretty bad when we have a teenager telling us about potentially life-changing events resulting from our careless use of our planet. Sadly, my generation did very little about it. Your generation has done little about it to date, and if she is the catalyst that brings all of us together somehow …. give her a nobel prize. In the meantime, let us help to spread her voice by posting links on our various social media platforms. When she gets into the millions of hits, then perhaps a politician or two may think that perhaps the population does have an interest in the environment? Perhaps environmentally sensitive political platforms will encourage votes? I do not expect to be around in 30 years, but I am pretty sure that you can expect to be!
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Perhaps I make it to become 80 but my kids might still be around in 30 years. I cannot stress enough that everybody changes something in their behavior regarding our environment and our way of thinking.
I admire this girl for her courage and determination and for her devotion to that task. She is amazing and of course, lots of adults/politicians are not amused being “taught” by a 16 years. But that should make them even more think why they try to resist her concerns.
She does make a difference. Only that a 16 year old is so determined gives us a wake up call. I believe that there will be changes because of her engagement. And every little change is a step forward.
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I am encouraging everybody to link it on their various social media platforms. That young lady needs as much publicity as we can give her! 🙂
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She is everywhere! I follow her on Twitter too and also with our business account.
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🙂
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The fact that any adult feels the need to listen to a teenager about things like this suggests the strong possibility that we have already failed. Our politics are so screwed up now that it takes a media circus like this to even try and create a point that should already be obvious. Kids should be kids, not activists on this scale.
I don’t subscribe to the “panic” version of climate change, but I do recognize that things are changing and that humanity, in its current state in this world, has done a pretty good job of NOT helping the environment. Unfortunately, I think there needs to be a whole lot of rectal craniotomies in the adult world concerning politics and a few other things before we even stand a chance of really getting some much needed global-scale work done. I submit the media circus around this teenager as a point of evidence for this.
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Totally agree with you Scott. Sadly, as a result of ignorant, apathetic, self-serving (etc.) world leaders, perhaps it is going to take a media circus around a 16 year old to get the message through? Perhaps if enough people copy/link it to their social media? Perhaps if she gets quite a few million hits?
I look at the culture of politics here (Canada), in the U.S. and in the U.K. (and I have no doubt in so many other countries) ruled by a “democratic” process, and have to ask how we got into a position where:
1. The elected term of office ( 4 years here) only provokes long range planning by a perceptive few.
2. That ensuring the future of their particular political party is more important than the country they represent.
3. That telling the people what they want to hear is the norm to get votes, regardless of any realities.
4. That it is so expensive to run for a senior political position, that one has to be either financially extremely comfortable, of be sponsored. We should not be surprised when corporations receive preferential treatment.
Of course it is so easy to criticize the “system” when one does not have any answers, and it is a much better process for governing than some countries have … but it is difficult to predict a positive future under the current circumstances.
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There’s the key to getting rid of the current state of affairs… having real and good answers to offer as a replacement.
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People like her are our hope for the future.
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Agreed but, as I recall she stressed, we can’t wait for her generation to be in a position of control. She is an amazing flag waver for the future of our planet, but it is today’s politicians that should be taking the necessary actions.
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Gotta love the emotion ahe puts behind her words. You can feel her sincerity and outrage! She is one amazing, courageous young lady. We can learn alot from our young people if we open our ears and really listen!
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Sadly, efforts to clean up “our act” will be very expensive, and will negatively impact the finances of large corporations and wealthy individuals … and it is those two areas that, in effect, finance our political system! So many scientists are unified in the position that we are fast approaching the “point of no return”. i.e. things are deteriorating at a rate which soon we will not have the resources to control and/or reverse. Climate change is simply not an issue which can be dealt with some time in the future. If nothing is done in the immediate future, then we probably will reach that “point of no return” within 20-30 years and, while it is unlikely that I will be around to see it … our children, our grand-children, and our great grand-children will be.
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I don’t want to agree but you are right. We have got ourselves in so deep and yes immediate action is needed but as a famailar saying goes will it be “too little, too late.”
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I hope you are wrong. All indicators would suggest that if we do not start correcting things, life on this planet will dramatically change … always assuming that conditions will support life here.
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I hope I am wrong too!
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Yes .. I can well imagine you do! 🙂
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Well … according to my batting average .. there is a pretty strong chance that I am. ☺️
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That may well be, but it’s not your batting average that counts. You should consider the batting average of some of the worlds decision makers … including yours!
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Yes, you have a point there!
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