- Climate activist Greta Thunberg gathered millions of young people in street demonstrations around the world.
- Corona has put a stop to it, but according to Greta Thunberg, the pandemic shows that world leaders can take global threats seriously – if they just want to.
- “The corona pandemic, more than anything else, shows that we have not treated the climate crisis as a crisis, not once,” she tells Ekot.
There are similarities between how the children were handled in the corona pandemic and in the climate crisis, says Greta Thunberg to Ekot. She says that children have been hit hard by school closures and other coronary restrictions – sacrifices that the adult world should pay back in the future.
– Naturally, you should think of the children in the first place, but we do not. Especially when it comes to climate, but there are such tendencies when it comes to the pandemic as well, says Greta Thunberg.
How?
– That the children can stand back.
Greta Thunberg takes the example of schools that have been closed all over the world, and which in several countries have been the last to open up, after shopping centers, workplaces and bars. The children’s everyday lives and education have been strongly affected, a sacrifice that Greta Thungberg hopes the adult world will pay back in the long run.
– Since we have in many ways taken our responsibility, by children all over the world have been left behind to protect those in risk groups who are often older, you can hope that the elderly in the future also have the courage and common sense to protect us younger .
And then you think about?
– On the climate, of course.
It is two years since Greta Thunberg led demonstrations with millions of young people around the world for a changed climate policy. The corona pandemic put an end to them, but also showed that world leaders can take global threats seriously if they want to, says Greta Thunberg.
– The corona pandemic, more than anything else, shows that we have not treated the climate crisis as a crisis, not once.
How do you mean?
– If we say that the climate crisis is a crisis and so we continue just as usual. Then when there is another crisis, we have a completely different crisis response to it. It puts things in a new light.
The corona pandemic has also made Greta Thunberg reflect on the climate movement’s strategy so far – which, according to her, has been to emphasize hope and opportunity in front of dystopian future scenarios – if it has been wrong. Because, she says, now it was precisely the fear that made people and entire communities act.
– That people actually got scared. That is what made us act, that it affected us. Whether it was because you were afraid of losing your job, or of getting sick, or of losing a loved one. One can then question whether our strategy of communicating the climate crisis has been so successful. What we have said all the time is that we must communicate hope, that we can not communicate what reality looks like because then we will just give up, says Greta Thunberg.
Source: ICELAND NEWS