Extreme Temperature Diary- December 3rd, 2018/ Topic: Greta Thunburg… The Next Generation Speaks And Acts

guyonclimate_mi5tor

Monday December 3rd… Dear Diary. The main purpose of this ongoing post will be to track United States extreme or record temperatures related to climate change. Any reports I see of ETs will be listed below the main topic of the day. I’ll refer to extreme or record temperatures as ETs (not extraterrestrials)😊. 

Greta Thunburg… The Next Generation Speaks And Acts

I’ve been keeping my eye on a young lady from Scandinavia for quite some time now. In my opinion Greta Thunberg will become one of the next great leaders from Europe since the issue of climate change, beyond any fight in association with that continent’s past woes, will be A number one to deal with this century. I’m very impressed with the new leaders of “generation Z,” those born after the year 2000 now coming of age. On another issue that I don’t tackle, gun control for example,  David Hogg who is still in his teens has very fine leadership qualities well beyond those of someone so young. Those from the Great Depression/World War II have been described as the “greatest generation” of the 20th century. Don’t be surprised that after this century comes and goes that Generation Z will go down in history as a” greatest generation,” saving the environment and climate for humanity for eons to come. 

I was tempted to write in the last sentence “if civilization survives.” Generation Z has a heavy responsibility having to deal with the full brunt of the mid 21st century consequences of carbon pollution combined with dwindling resources and overpopulation. It is the opinion of great climate scientists of this day like Dr. Michael Mann that Greta’s generation is the last that can act in unison to avoid the worst pitfalls of climate change. I’m going to be optimistic today, though,  thinking that enough young people like Greta and David will lead humanity away from any abyss.  Today I want Greta to have the floor of this post:

Here is the speech from Greta’s tweet:

Greta Thunberg speaks in Katowice: ”Our leaders behave like children”

For 25 years countless of people have stood in front of the United Nations climate conferences, asking our nations leaders to stop the emissions. But, clearly this has not worked since the emissions just continue to rise.

So I will not ask them anything.

Instead I will ask the media to start treating the crisis as a crisis.

Instead I will ask the people around the world to realize that our political leaders have failed us.

Because we are facing an existential threat and there is no time to continue down this road of madness.

Rich countries like Sweden need to start reducing emissions by at least 15% every year to reach the 2 degree warming target. You would think the media and everyone of our leaders would be talking about nothing else – but no one ever even mentions it.

Nor does hardly anyone ever talk about that we are in the midst of the sixth mass extinction, with up to 200 species going extinct every single day.

Furthermore does no one ever speak about the aspect of equity clearly stated everywhere in the Paris agreement, which is absolutely necessary to make it work on a global scale. That means that rich countries like mine need to get down to zero emissions, within 6–12 years with todays emission speed, so that people in poorer countries can heighten their standard of living by building some of the infrastructure that we have already built. Such as hospitals, electricity and clean drinking water.

Because how can we expect countries like India, Colombia or Nigeria to care about the climate crisis if we, who already have everything, don’t care even a second about our actual commitments to the Paris agreement?

So when school started in August this year I sat myself down on the ground outside the Swedish parliament. My school striked for the climate.

Some people say that I should be in school instead. Some people say that I should study to become a climate scientist so that I can ”solve the climate crisis”. But the climate crisis has already been solved. We already have all the facts and solutions. 

And why should I be studying for a future that soon may be no more, when no one is doing anything to save that future? And what is the point of learning facts when the most important facts clearly means nothing to our society?

Today we use 100 million barrels of oil every single day. There are no politics to change that. There are no rules to keep that oil in the ground.

So we can’t save the world by playing by the rules. Because the rules have to be changed.

So we have not come here to beg the world leaders to care for our future. They have ignored us in the past and they will ignore us again.

We have come here to let them know that change is coming whether they like it or not. The people will rise to the challenge. And since our leaders are behaving like children, we will have to take the responsibility they should have taken long ago.

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Quite something coming from a 15 year old, eh? …and so to the point. I just wish that my generation from around 30-40 years ago was ringing the old proverbial bell just as loudly on climate. 

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Here is some other weather and climate news from Monday:

(As usual, this will be a fluid post in which more information gets added during the day as it crosses my radar, crediting all who have put it on-line. Items will be archived on this site for posterity.)

Here are a few “ET” reports from the past 48 hours:

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The Climate Guy

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