By 2012 over half the world's population was estimated to be under thirty years of age, with around 16 per cent being under 15 years old.
All around the world those who govern are considerably older on average.
Yet it is thee yound people who willl be forced to endure the worst impacts - the life changing, life threatening impacts - of climate change.
The young have begun to speak up in defence of their future.
This is Greta, she is fifteen years old...........
TRANSCRIPT:
Greta Thunberg’s Speech to COP24 UN Climate Summit, Katowice, Poland, December 2018
GRETA
THUNBERG: My name is Greta Thunberg. I am 15 years old, and I’m from Sweden. I
speak on behalf of Climate Justice Now!
Many
people say that Sweden is just a small country, and it doesn’t matter what we
do. But I’ve learned that you are never too small to make a difference. And if
a few children can get headlines all over the world just by not going to
school, then imagine what we could all do together if we really wanted to.
But
to do that, we have to speak clearly, no matter how uncomfortable that may be.
You only speak of green eternal economic growth because you are too scared of
being unpopular. You only talk about moving forward with the same bad ideas
that got us into this mess, even when the only sensible thing to do is pull the
emergency brake.
You are not mature enough to tell it like it is. Even that
burden you leave to us children.
But
I don’t care about being popular. I care about climate justice and the living
planet.
Our civilization is being sacrificed for the opportunity of a very
small number of people to continue making enormous amounts of money. Our
biosphere is being sacrificed so that rich people in countries like mine can
live in luxury. It is the sufferings of the many which pay for the luxuries of
the few.
The
year 2078, I will celebrate my 75th birthday. If I have children, maybe they
will spend that day with me. Maybe they will ask me about you. Maybe they will
ask why you didn’t do anything while there still was time to act.
You say you
love your children above all else, and yet you are stealing their future in
front of their very eyes.
Until
you start focusing on what needs to be done, rather than what is politically
possible, there is no hope. We cannot solve a crisis without treating it as a
crisis. We need to keep the fossil fuels in the ground, and we need to focus on
equity. And if solutions within the system are so impossible to find, then
maybe we should change the system itself.
We
have not come here to beg world leaders to care. You have ignored us in the
past, and you will ignore us again.
We have run out of excuses, and we are
running out of time.
We have come here to let you know that change is coming,
whether you like it or not. The real power belongs to the people.
Thank you.
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