It is unbelievable that in this day and age, some people still question climate change - there have been warnings since I was a young child - let alone claim it is a conspiracy or 'fake news'. And yet, when the people who will be directly affected after my generation (and older) are long gone, actually shout and make a noise about the fact their elders are not doing enough, it is met with claims that "they only wanted a day off school", and "the kids are hypocrites" etc.
Nobody leads a perfect life. Even friends I have that I trying to be totally self-sufficient by growing, making and mending as much as possible, need a car occasionally to get around. Or another friend who doesn't drive, is vegan and tries to be as environmentally friendly as possible, cannot live totally plastic-free. And it is unreasonable to suggest that unless you can do all these things and more then you are a hypocrite and it's not worth trying anything. Bullshit. We can all do a little bit more. And for things that are outside of our control, we need to use our voice to protest, march, petition and at least try to change the minds of those in power: councils, governments and businesses.
So while the protest we attended was not in a major city, so was not as large as many that were around the country, and around the world, for these 30-odd students (yes, there were more not in the picture) they are showing they care, and give me hope for the future.
i get so annoyed at the low opinions so many have of today's young people. they try top do something good and they get criticised. well at least they doing something. carmen
ReplyDeleteI am not a believer in man made global warming. There are scientists who take opposing views on the matter kids are being brainwashed into believing one specific viewpoint. In Canada we have not had such walkouts of school children, that I know about.
ReplyDeleteThere are scientists that take differing views about the impact and timescales of climate change, I don't believe that there are any credible scientists who believe that man has not had an effect.
DeleteHere's a link for Canada if you want to know more about the good work being done there: https://www.goodwork.ca/action/school-strike-for-climate-change-action-canada-52045
Scientists change their minds on the basis of the evidence, and a consensus emerges over time. Most scientists have stopped arguing on if climate change is real and if it is man made. They also now relying on each other's work, such is the consense. All science depends on that which precedes it, and when one scientist builds on the work of another, s/he acknowledges the work of others through citations. The work that forms the foundation of climate change science is cited with great frequency by many other scientists, demonstrating that the theory is widely accepted - and relied upon.
DeleteIn the scientific field of climate studies – which is informed by many different disciplines – the consensus is demonstrated by the number of scientists who have stopped arguing about what is causing climate change – and that’s nearly all of them.
Authors of seven climate consensus studies — including Naomi Oreskes, Peter Doran, William Anderegg, Bart Verheggen, Ed Maibach, J. Stuart Carlton, and John Cook — co-authored a paper that should settle the question of consesus once and for all. The two key conclusions from the paper are:
1) Depending on exactly how you measure the expert consensus, it’s somewhere between 90% and 100% that agree humans are responsible for climate change, with most of our studies finding 97% consensus among publishing climate scientists.
2) The greater the climate expertise among those surveyed, the higher the consensus on human-caused global warming.
Therefore, while there are some non-scientists and some, often highly discredited, scientists who make a lot of noise about alleged lack of evidence,the scientific community now takes man-made climate change as real and that is why it is, and should, be taught in schools.