Greta Thunberg is tired. Tired of ever-rising global temperatures, tired of watching her future burn, and, as evidenced by her latest appearances at the World Economic Forum in Davos, extremely tired of the adults in the room sitting around with their thumbs up their arses.
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Thunberg, the 17-year-old climate activist whose protests sparked a global movement, appeared at the Davos, Switzerland event yesterday one year after her initial plea for action. In speeches on separate panels, the teen expressed her extreme disdain that in the twelve months between her speeches, “pretty much nothing has been done, since the global emissions of CO2 have not reduced.”
Those are her words from a panel hosted by TIME Magazine, titled ‘Forging a Sustainable Path Towards a Common Future’. That could have been the title for the entire Davos forum, given the intense focus on the climate emergency – and the pissweak international responses to it.
“In one aspect, lots has happened, that no-one has predicted,” Thunberg said.
This has sort of sparked a general awareness and a movement, of course. It was not only me, but all these many, many young people from many different places pushing together to form this alliance of movements. Of course that is a huge step… but of course, if you see from another perspective, pretty much nothing has been done, since the global emissions of CO2 have not reduced. And that is, of course, what is what we are trying to achieve, among other things.
In a separate panel, hosted by the New York Times, Thunberg told attendees “Our house is still on fire” and “Your inaction is fuelling the flames by the hour.”
She has a point. COP25, the 2019 climate conference which many hoped would see big-time polluters commit to more ambitious emission reduction targets, was hamstrung by nations including Australia. The large-scale changes to industry and society required to stem the rising climate are still frustratingly far away.
There is one upside to all of this. At least Thunberg is still fighting – her resignation in the face of international inaction would be truly terrifying.
