Critics may attack Greta Thunberg, but the data and science on climate change speak for themselves

Editorial: Data and science, though, have benefited from the amplification supplied by this remarkable young woman

Friday 20 September 2019 16:42 BST
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Greta Thunberg pulls apart congressman's argument on climate change

It is unprecedented. One 16-year-old Swedish girl with a vision for a viable planet has inspired a global movement for change. The millions of people, predominantly young, all around the world who made a powerful but peaceful protest about the transcendent issue facing the world – the future of the life on Earth itself – constitute by far the most hopeful development since we first became aware of the damage human activity is inflicting on Gaia. For these are the very people who, perhaps before it really is too late, will be voting, agitating, arguing and delivering the changes to lifestyles so desperately needed.

We owe an enormous debt to Greta Thunberg. Reviled though she may be in some quarters, her message carries an extraordinary power and resonance, much of it down to its sheer earnestness. As she told the United States congress this week – and there are few other groups on the planet who need to hear the voice of the global young more urgently – dealing with the climate emergency is not a matter of choice, of options to be weighed and assessed, of considering matters or planning ameliorative palliative measures.

“This is above all an emergency, and not just any emergency,” she said. “This is the biggest crisis humanity has ever faced. And we need to treat it accordingly so that people can understand and grasp the urgency. Because you cannot solve a crisis without treating it as one. Stop telling people that everything will be fine when in fact, as it looks now, it won’t be very fine.”

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