“I don’t want you to listen to me. I want you to listen to the scientists and I want you to unite behind the science.”
These were the words spoken by 16-year-old Greta Thunberg, a youth climate activist from Sweden, on Tuesday. She delivered these, along with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) special report on global warming written on October 8, 2018, to the House of Representatives’ Committee on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia, Energy, and the Environment.
Thunberg’s message: Consider the report – science – as her testimony. She continued, “I want you to unite behind the scientists and then I want you to take real action.”
Watch the video of Thunberg here, or continue reading.
Thunberg was joined by Jamie Margolin, the 17-year-old co-founder of Zero Hour; Vic Barrett, a 20-year-old plaintiff in the climate change case Juliana v. United States; and Benji Backer, the 21-year-old founder of the American Conservation Coalition, which advocates for environmental policies.
Also making their presence known in the hearing were children bearing climate action posters, trying to capture the committee’s attention.
Margolin’s challenge to politicians – act now, because by the time she’s old enough to be in office, it will be too late.
“This needs to happen within the next 10 years, because that’s the deadline to save life as we know it,” Margolin said. As for the government’s view of the youth climate movement, she added, “People call my generation, Generation Z as if we are the last generation, but we are not.”
How she wants the movement to be recognized? Generation GND – the Generation of the Green New Deal.
Greta Thunberg, House of Representatives — Sources
Committee on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia, Energy, and the Environment