Greta Thunberg Takes on Trump at the World Economic Forum
“Our house is still on fire.”
Greta Thunberg doesn’t filter her words, and it’s good for the planet. The 17-year-old Swedish climate activist spoke openly at the World Economic Forum meeting on Tuesday wherein she warned business leaders, politicians and bankers to get their priorities right if they want humans to survive the climate crisis. She also didn’t hesitate to take on Donald Trump and spoke on his inclination towards planting a trillion trees.
Highlighting the Australian fires, Greta Thunberg said “Our house is still on fire. Your inaction is fuelling the flames by the hour, and we are telling you to act as if you loved your children above all else.”
Even the experts polled by WEF agree with her as they think that the climate crisis is one of the biggest threats of today. The world must stop all carbon emissions quickly, or the earth would be at tremendous risk.
Greta Thunberg also highlighted that politicians have let the fossil fuel industry deny climate change and promote inaction. She said “This is not about right or left. We couldn’t care less about your party politics. From a sustainability perspective, the right, the left, as well as the centre, have all failed.”
Speaking from the perspective of students who are stating their demands regarding climate change, Greta Thunberg said: “We demand, at this year’s World Economic Forum, participants from all companies, banks, institutions, and governments immediately halt all investments in fossil fuel exploration and extraction, immediately end all fossil fuel subsidies, and immediately and completely divest from fossil fuels.”
Threatening that her generation might need to fight, Greta Thunberg said “Either you do this, or you’re going to have to explain to your children why you are giving up on the 1.5-degree target, giving up without even trying. I am here to tell you that, unlike you, my generation will not give up without a fight.”
As expected, Greta Thunberg didn’t hesitate to take on Donald Trump. The US President had stated that the US would join the one trillion trees initiative that focuses on planting as a trillion trees all over the world to help combat the effects of climate change.
Many people wrongly assume that if they plant more trees on the planet, it might help suck up more carbon dioxide and might help achieve cleaner earth.
Though Greta Thunberg agreed that planting more trees was good, she also said that using oil and coal isn’t a smart idea. She said “We’re not telling you to offset your emissions by paying someone to plant trees in somewhere like Africa, while at the same time forests like the Amazon are being slaughtered at an infinitely higher rate. Planting trees is good of course, but it’s nowhere near enough of what is needed and it cannot replace real mitigation.”
