Post 496 - Power to the young people!

Hey everyone, been a bit of a while since I've posted but after recent events I felt it was time I tried to get busier with some blogs again.

The 15th March was a day of hope, a day when the ripples of the actions of one amazing young person, Greta Thunberg, reached the around the world and were multiplied by many more. I love Greta's approach and plain speaking which you can see in the video below.

Some people say that we are not doing enough to fight climate change.

But that is not true.

Because to ”not do enough” you have to do something.

And the truth is we are basically not doing anything.

This film was shown inside the #wef today.#FridaysForFuture #WhateverItTakes pic.twitter.com/VVAa9x8aGI

— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) 22 January 2019

What I saw on the news and social media about the 15th March was amazing, the biggest youth led action for the climate and the natural world I’ve ever seen. In the UK Many young people I know that have been campaigning on these issues for years were are part of it, joined by thousands of others. To see that more and more young people are becoming aware of the issues and are prepared to take action to help our planet is very uplifting and hopeful

I wasn’t one of them though, I wasn’t there.

Why not? Because I would have felt I was a fraud.

I’ve not been able to engage in the school system for a while now. I’m currently home tutored. So how could I strike from something I’m not part of? This has been down to me not being able to cope with a very big and busy high school and was the one thing I’d struggled most with because of my Autism/Aspergers. So had I joined in it wouldn’t really have been striking in honesty.

But this isn’t about me and my problems. It’s about the world and the problems it’s facing. The fact that more and more young people are willing to take action is amazing.  The act of rebellion of not going to school has jarred the system, seems to offend British sensibilities and prompted even the Prime Minister to comment on the movement, though her words ring less true than those of the young people concerned about the plight of the planet. Many negative comments about the strike are centered around you need to get an education to be able to tackle the problem, or that young people are just doing this to skip school. I don’t think it takes a lot of education to realise that the way that generations before us have led their lives has led to the problems we face now. I don’t think it would take long if the politicians and critics engaged properly with young people to realise they do have integrity, that they are passionate and want real change. They are frightened for their future if change doesn’t happen.

Our lifestyles are causing problems for lots of
creatures we share the planet with, insects are
especially vulnerable and populations are crashing

Engaging with the traditional systems in the traditional ways isn’t going to bring about change rapidly enough to help our planet. I don’t want to wait until 2022 and the next (scheduled) general election to vote. I’ll be old enough then, but will there be a candidate that will be standing on the issues I’m concerned about? Will they win? And then if they do they will have to battle though Parliament to make changes. Do we have that time?

I don’t think we do have that time.  Our respected model of democracy isn’t designed or geared up to make the fundamental changes we need quickly enough. We need to raise our voices and act in different, more urgent ways.

On the basis of the shameful attendance by MP’s on the Climate Change debate in parliament recently it still seems they don’t take the issue seriously.  Yet more and more reports are emerging about our impact on the world, recently we’ve heard about the collapse of insect populations, the Environment Agency warned about the need to use water more wisely if we don’t want to run out of it.

"We need water wastage to be as socially unacceptable as blowing smoke in the face of a baby"

How #climatechange could cause 'water shortages in England in 25 years' 👉 https://t.co/pEJNRdgbzB

[tap to expand] pic.twitter.com/Kb3OOcj119

— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) 21 March 2019

I hope that many of the young people involved in the strike will continue to take action, continue to raise their voice, continue to be heard. I’ve written before about lots of ways people not old enough to vote can help the planet so I hope that as well as protesting many will take direct positive action too.

So as I couldn’t take part I’m going to take my own actions, today that action is that I am writing to Michael Gove. I passed him a copy of the #PeoplesManifestoForWildlife recently and I’m going to ask him what he thought about it, what ideas in it he liked and will act on. This week I’ll dig out the article I wrote for New Nature and post it on my blog highlighting some of the ways young people can help make a difference.

This isn’t going to have the impact that March 15th had on the world, but it’s my little pebbles dropped into the pool of action. I bet Greta didn’t realise how far the ripples of her action would reach. I think it is amazing what has happened as a result of her actions and I really hope she gets the Nobel Prize that she’s been nominated for.

I also hope more and more young people take action, add their ripples, and that together they make waves big enough to bring the change our planet so desperately needs.

Hope you enjoyed,

Z.