“Our house is still on fire. Your inaction is fuelling the flames by the hour.”
This year, the World Economic Forum (Wef20) brought together global leaders to address many world issues at the Annual Meeting in Davos, the top-most spoken about being the ecological crisis of our time. The theme of the forum this year was “Stakeholders for a Cohesive and Sustainable World.”
The most remarkable panel I attended was made up of young environmental activists from around the world and the now world-famous Greta Thunberg.
Ms Thunberg, at the young age of 17, has not let anybody stop her from giving out a clear message to the world she hopes to save. Her famous words, which rang through the same Forum last year, “The world is on fire,” were the most popular quote of last year; gaining international acclaim. This year, as she addressed WEF20, it became, “Our house is still on fire. Your inaction is fueling the flames by the hour.”
Seated up front, I had the pleasure of hearing her at the session, “Forging a Sustainable Path Towards a Common Future,” and also over five days at WEF20 as she spoke on several topics about global warming, climate change action, fossil fuel and carbon emissions. The speakers at this session included Salvador Gomez-Colon, Natasha Mwansa, Edward Felsenthal and Autumn Peltier–a great mix of young environmental activists from different countries.
Her other session, “Averting Climate Apocalypse,” included panel members such as Ma Jun, Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, Rajiv Shah, Rebecca Blumenstein and Oliver Bate. The discussion here was that as carbon emissions from fossil fuels hit a record high in 2019, future generations will have to face climate change and adapt to a warmer and more volatile environment.
The effects of climate change can only be addressed by governing bodies of power that can make the legislative changes
The forum discussed pertinent issues such as how could youth inspire positive changes through activism and bring about changes in behaviour, which would assist in bracing for the future.
Both sessions were developed in a partnership with TIME. Recently, Greta was featured on the cover of the magazine as the youngest TIME person of the year; making history.
One such example of the Climate Change was the Australian fires, which recently consumed a large area, almost the size of West Virginia. It is said that smoke from the fires was seen as far as in Chile. Although it is true that businesses worldwide are finally coming around to meet requirements responsibly through their practices, the fact does remain that the world seems to be running out of time. The goal is to keep global warming below a rise of 1.5 degrees, and the global movement is to avoid the two-degrees mark at all cost.
The powerful narrative by such a young speaker is phenomenal as the future generation takes the lead in situations, which will impact the survival of millions. The social impact, which Greta and other such change-makers have achieved by using their words and their commitment is quite incredible. They are not speaking about something unreasonable in the long run. However, it is up to us to be able to follow through; facing the facts shown to us by science that Earth is in deep trouble. As Greta always puts it in her many speeches, “Listen to the science.”
This year, as Greta addressed the 50th World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting, she called for urgent action; stressing the need for “real zero” emissions. She had three immediate demands for the Davos participants. Greta’s straightforward way of speaking and her clear-cut directives have attained her a great amount of negativity with adults trolling her on social media. However, it must be noted how important her work representing the young generation is. Here are her demands, as from her speech to global leaders at WEF20.
“In the days running up to the 50th anniversary of the World Economic Forum, I joined a group of climate activists who are demanding that you, the world’s most powerful and influential business and political leaders, begin to take the action needed. We demand that at this year’s World Economic Forum participants from all companies, banks, institutions and governments: 1) Immediately halt all investments in fossil fuel exploration and extraction. 2) Immediately end all fossil fuel subsidies. 3) And immediately and completely divest from fossil fuels. She ended by saying “We don’t want these things done by 2050, 2030 or even 2021, we want this done now.”
Young Ms Thunberg’s journey started when she was only eight years old. She had watched a documentary in school on Climate Change and was deeply affected by it. She began changing her habits at home to lessen her carbon footprint (as well as encouraging her family to do so). Greta’s also famously known for her “Skolstrejk för klimatet” (School Strike for the Climate) when in 2018, she began protesting outside the Swedish parliament with the painted sign. Hundreds of thousands of people worldwide, inspired by her, have taken up her cause globally (especially the Fridays for Future, FFF). Today, hailed as one of the most powerful young environmental activists, the 17-year-old has changed the perspective and the narrative of the plight of the environment.
It was wonderful to note how all the young participants have been speaking maturely in an inclusive way to bring the world together by raising awareness about climate change through their various viewpoints and perspectives. Their global work of raising awareness and impact has resulted in a following of hundreds of thousands of those who have dedicated themselves to this cause; a global revolutionary movement that is needed to bring change.
Is Greta as dynamic in person as she is onscreen? That she certainly is! At the end of the Davos conference being inside the Congress Center for several meetings, Greta, in her usual style, joined her colleagues outside for climate strike; marching through the Swiss Alps with other young protestors on the last day.
All things said the effects of climate change can only be addressed by governing bodies of power that can make the legislative changes within the frameworks of their own countries. The reality on the ground is that although what our young climate activists are asking makes sense, it can only happen over a while and it is time that we do not seem to have on our side. Changing habits and behaviour patterns of living for entire countries or on a global scale cannot happen overnight. Another thing to be taken into account is also specifically in terms of developing economies, who although affected by climate change do simply not have the same economic resources for implementation such as an already developed economy. However, awareness-raising, education and understanding and giving alternative methods of sustainable living to combat Climate Change, the global citizens of the world can unite to take certain measures to address the situation at hand. With the Gen Z’s very much in the forefront of Climate Change Action, this generation is in top form and it knows what it wants. The hope remains that all generations can work together to create an impact on the future of humanity.
