Near half a million protesters took to the street yesterday in the Climate March. The protest in Madrid, attended by Greta Thunberg, attracted global attention, as the COP25 goes into its second week of negotiations.
18-year-old Katowice activist Zuzanna Borowska called on parents to join the students (not only) during Friday’s protests. The statesmen who are negotiating new climate legislation at the COP25 summit in Madrid these days have received an urgent request to think about their children in the negotiations.
“Our children are the greatest love of our lives. Despite this, they are being handed a broken world on the verge of climate chaos and ecological breakdown. As parents, seeing this is agonizing. So, our appeal to delegates is to take those minutes right before making a decision at the summit and stop, close your eyes and picture your children’s faces. Then envision the future you want for your grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Will you do what it takes to make this future a reality for our children who will inherit the earth?” Wrote 222 parental groups from around the world.
“Public demand for action is at an all-time high and science has never been more clear about what’s at stake if we don’t embrace the solutions that already exist, stop burning fossil fuels and transform our societies. Millions of children have led the way with the school-strikes in showing resolve to fight the pending catastrophe and now we, the parents, are also rising up to protect all our children and demand climate action. Together we will do whatever it takes to protect them. Addressing the climate crisis is not the responsibility of our children – it’s our job as adults and parents to act to try to give our children the future that they deserve.”
The Czech group, Parents for Climate from Liberec also supports the challenge.
Anna Kšírová, the founder of the initiative in Liberec says…
It is the responsibility of all of us who work in the current system, and it is mainly about civic engagement. It puts pressure on politicians and they are forced to deal with the climate crisis.
The political power of the young
Youth organizations, which draw attention to the climate crisis and urge politicians to take faster and more effective steps to mitigate the negative effects of climate change, have gained a strong position in the last year. Their political strength and pressure have been felt since the beginning of the negotiations at the Madrid summit.
One of the prominent representatives of young climate activists is Zuzanna Borowska. She brought a small but “loud” delegation to Poland from Madrid.
Borowska explains…
Poland has been dependent on coal for centuries. There was no youth climate movement a year ago, and now we have regular strikes, we have organized a local youth conference and we are spreading awareness of the climate crisis.
Borowska added that she did not want to shout at anyone, but rather to spread hope and understanding. “We can only achieve something if we work together,” she said, hinting at her call for parents to be involved in the fight against climate change.
Yesterday, a Polish activist gave a speech in Madrid along with other students from around the world. The importance of their work and commitment was well illustrated by Niclas Svenningsen of Global Climate Action, who said, “Over the past year, we have seen progress made by young people around the world that we have failed to make in the last 30 years .”
Greta Arrived
And young activists are relentless in their demands to combat climate change. “We’re running out of time. Politicians ignore the climate crisis and protect the interests of fossil corporations. Instead, they should protect the millions of people who are forced to leave their homes every year or even die from the effects of climate change. Prioritizing the interests of several beneficial individuals over the interests of several billion people is undemocratic, inhuman and criminal,” a representative of Fridays for Future said at a press conference
It organizes regular Friday school strikes and is probably the most prominent group with a global reach. The best known representative of Fridays for Future is Greta Thunberg, who attended the climate summit and later that day joined 500, 000 people who marched for climate in the Center of Madrid.
Demonstrations took place all around the world and involved millions. At the same time as Madrid, a demonstration was also set to take place in the capital of Chile, where the COP25 climate summit was supposed to take place originally.
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This article was originally published on denik.cz