FOR YEARS THE SHEAR SCOPE AND MAGNITUDE OF THIS LOOMING CATASTROPHE HAS BEEN DOWNPLAYED..EVEN HIDDEN AND MISINTERPRETED..NOW DESPERATION DOESN'T EVEN BEGIN TO DESCRIBE THE SCRAMBLE TO SOLVE THIS MAN MADE TIME BOMB
From Sharm el-Sheikh to Glassgow, to Madrid, katowice to bonn, and Marrakech to Paris, the unmistakable sense of heightening global concern for the climate crisis is deafening and glaring. Pretence is out of the window. It's not business as usual. The consensus is clear, the planet is warming much faster than we thought, and the implications are dire.
So it came as no surprise when an 21 year old ( with a regular professional carer), and her mum agreed to be interviewed by RACE AGAINST TIME INC, ostensibly to shed light on the young ladies sudden awareness of the burden her generation will be forced to bear in managing a crisis largely created by powerful profit seeking incentives of capitalism and other factors revolving largely around the energy needs of modern societies.
"Amazing and liberating", were words she coined to describe the power of activism encountered when she joined hordes of liked minded youths to demand climate change action in the latest round of agitations and slogan pitched attempts to get the attention of world leaders, power brokers, and business titans. The fact that she gets up ever so often to join her compatriots of anti political, anti big business, noise making crowds determined to bring attention to a seemingly intractable problem, begs an even larger question. "Is activism finally getting its five minutes of tangible effectiveness fame"? The answer seems to be a resounding Yes!
Take Washingtons undivided attention to the double standards game of bemoaning the impact of the climate crisis on the one hand, yet granting lobbying laced concessions to profit drunk entrepreneurs, as a classic example, the young lady pointed. And to justify her commitment to the cause, she implies that agitation and activism are just one of their objectives. We consult, advise, organize crowd pulling events, amongst other initiatives.
Im proud to be a carbon mercenary she continued. In times past, this project, (Willow), for instance, would have been granted without so much of a blink. Today, it's still been deliberated. Passage may eventually win, but our concerns will resonate throughout history. The mounting visibility of activists is heartwarming. Concessions are being struck with their demands factored as crucial insights, and sometimes outright legal wins. Slight progress, some may argue, but progress nonetheless.
The dilemma of how much activism is enough to get radical change is debatable. One thing is clear though, the fire is lit, and the period of cover-ups and misinformation is over. "Existential threat" is the new buzz word. Power brokers are suddenly scrambling, literally falling over each other, to prove their new found commitment to saving the planet. According to leading think tank thought leaders, the political epic enter of global power and economic policy hub of the world's second largest emissions producer is shifting. A clear policy consensus awareness is happening across ideological spectrums and political divides. There is a mounting sense of quiet dread about the scale and magnitude of the climate crisis.
This heightened context has galvanized a new wave of young problem solvers to take matters into their own hands. Welcome to the brave new world of the carbon mercenary, (some prefer to call them carbon fighters). They agitate, chant, and delibrate on everything from practical actionable ideas such as saving water by turning off the tap, recycling everything from plastics to cardboard packaging, taking a walk and car pooling, to adopting other commonsense renewable strategies and solutions. More importantly they stress the need to appreciate the environment more.
In the midst of all this non-stop activity, they stay laser focused on they central theme of emissions reduction as the cornerstone of their battle cry. Zero emissions at a 1.5 degree celsius target by 2030 is now the common refrain of choice. The founders of this non profit are confident that they are already seeing signs of progress. "We are betting on the fact that current global efforts at fighting carbon emissions will eventually boil down to the collective power of individual efforts"
As the interview with Agnes and her mum winds down she smiled pointedly. "Let the power brokers tackle the policy side of things,..we will handle the agitational needs of this fight"...maybe then the folks in Washington and around the world will double their their efforts. We need every bodys support.
Achieving great things take time. Agnes's mum noted. This time however, things feel different. The urgency is palpable...almost like the rising levels of glacier melting sea water.
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