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Speaking at the Youth4Climate summit in Milan, Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg mocked world leaders’ seemingly hollow climate change promises. From Biden’s green jobs, to Macron’s no Planet B slogan, to Boris Johson’s joke at the UN, Thunberg reduced the words of the leaders to babbling.
“This is not about some expensive politically correct green ads with bunny hugging or blah blah blah. Build back better blah blah blah. Green economy blah blah blah. Net-zero by 2050 blah blah blah,” Thunberg said.
“This is all we hear from our so-called leaders. Words. Words that sound great but so far has [sic] led to no action. Our hopes and dreams drown in their empty words and promises. Of course, we need constructive dialogue, but they've now had 30 years of blah blah blah and where has that led us?”
Her speech echoes the frustrations that climate scientists and activists have dealt with for a long time, especially recently. Despite the promises from the Climate Leaders’ Summit and the Petersburg dialogue, there was little follow-up in terms of action. None of the major greenhouse gas emitters are meeting the Paris Agreement goals. This is very concerning – but as Thunberg stressed, we can still change course.
“But, of course, we can still turn this around. It is entirely possible. It will take drastic annual emission cuts, unlike anything the world has ever seen. And as we don't have the technological solutions that alone can deliver anything close to that, that means we will have to change,” Thunberg continued in her rousing speech.
“We can no longer let the people in power decide what is politically possible or not. We can no longer let the people in power decide what hope is. Hope is not passive, hope is not blah blah blah. Hope is telling the truth, hope is taking action, and hope always comes from the people!”
