The Kids Are Alright

I can’t fathom what it must be like to be a child or student these days, confronted by an onslaught of information from constant digital and media stimulation, but I can say they are more informed than ever and leveraging facts to fight the good fight, from gun legislation to climate change. With roughly 1 in 4 American students having participated in a climate change protest, and the millions around the world who marched in solidarity with Swedish teen activist Greta Thunberg recently, the kids - burdened with the mess older generations have made - are taking charge and definitely alright.

It is perhaps even more unfathomable still how so many adults, especially aging politicians— many with their head buried in the sand — forgo facts and integrity, in favor of mocking the generations of youth who will be forced to deal with the environmental destruction dumped on them by the same people out for funds, not humanity. In particular, the public lashing of young women like Greta Thunberg - which clearly stems from fear and misogyny of too many lesser people - and young men like David Hogg who is routinely attacked online by NRA bots, is something none of us can even dream of contending with at such a young age. While the old guard continues to power grab at every opportunity, the kids are taking to the streets (literally).

“Those commenting on Greta Thunberg would do well to remember that Joan of Arc led an army, Jane Austen wrote her 1st work, Sojourner Truth escaped slavery, Anne Frank kept her journal, & Malala won the Nobel Prize at the same age. Young women are fierce when changing the world.” ~ Diana Butler Bass on Twitter

The Climate Strike Recap: Millions of people demonstrated across the world last week demanding urgent action to tackle global heating, as they united across timezones and cultures to take part in the biggest climate protest in history. In the estimated 185 countries where demonstrations took place, the protests often had their individual targets; from rising sea levels in the Solomon Islands, toxic waste in South Africa, to air pollution and plastic waste in India and coal expansion in Australia. But the overall message was unified – a powerful demand for an urgent step-change in action to cut emissions and stabilize the climate. The demonstrations took place on the eve of a UN climate summit, called by the secretary general, António Guterres, to inject urgency into government action to restrict the rise in global temperatures to 1.5C, as agreed under the 2015 Paris agreement. Carbon emissions climbed to a record high last year, despite a warning from the UN-backed Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that there is little more than a decade left to act to slash emissions. Read the full country by country recap here and watch the speeches from extraordinary young women below - I implore you to watch them with your kids and discuss! It will affect them the most!