Greta Thunberg has become the leading voice of her generation globally on the climate crisis. The Swedish teenager simply cuts through the double talk of government and business leaders on the urgency of what humanity faces.
Here is part of what Greta said at the Youth4Climate summit in Milan recently:
“Build back better … blah blah blah. Green economy … blah blah blah. Net Zero by 2050 … blah blah blah. Net zero … blah blah blah. Climate neutral … blah blah blah. This is all we hear from our so called leaders,” Thunberg said. “Words that sound great, but so far have led to no action. Our hopes and dreams drown in their empty promises. Of course we need constructive dialogue, but where has that led us … blah blah blah. Of course we can turn this around, but it will take annual emission cuts the likes of which the world has never seen. … We can no longer allow the people in power to decide what is politically possible or not. … Hope is not passive, hope is not blah blah blah. Hope is telling the truth. Hope is taking action. And hope always comes from the people.”
The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, taking place now through Nov. 12, has the aura of a last stand for nation-states to come together to face the greatest threat that humanity has ever known. The truth is that none of the major countries who signed the Paris 2015 Climate Accord has met the lowered emissions targets they promised to achieve by now. Not one. They all committed to be legally bound to those commitments. The obvious question is who might enforce that commitment?
Just the fact that this is the 26th conference shows the futility of the entire exercise. Nations have been meeting for over a quarter century to come together to face this challenge and have done nothing significant except to show their total lack of commitment. We are all lobsters in water that is slowly warming up and is about to boil, but the chefs – nation-states – are arguing about who gets to eat all the appetizers so much they won’t do anything to lower the heat.
Greta is right. All the political leaders from the biggest GDPs and polluting countries speak in platitudes but cannot even meet their own commitments made six years ago. Events of the next two decades will be such that history will judge the “leaders” who have allowed this to happen harshly.
Since I became a full-time futurist 16 years ago, I have stated that the 21st century will be looked back upon as the century when nation-states no longer are the highest form of government. Nation states are largely time congruent with the Industrial Age. Before 1780 there were countries, but the majority of land masses were colonies, fiefdoms, and territories. It was only in the 1800s that urbanization, centralization, production and the industrialization of humanity, made nation-states ascendant.
Now we have entered the global stage of human evolution. This means that as the economy has become global, communications have become global, travel is global, nation-states are less able to act to face global realities, problems and challenges on their own. We still live largely in an us/them mindset instead of a we/collective mindset. To face the planetary climate crisis, we must do so together – there is no place on earth that will escape the climate crisis.
The climate crisis gives humanity a chance to elevate and collectively raise our game to meet a threat that faces all of us and will deeply affect those yet unborn. How can humanity not care about our children, our grandchildren, our great-grandchildren and the generations that will come? We are creating a reality that will make the realities of future generations almost unbearable and, in fact, could lead to extinction in the next century.
So what will happen at COP26? The only way forward with this meeting in Glasgow is if the “leaders” speak the truth. So far there has only been talk, not action.
I am not sure that nationalistic leaders, with national agendas, can solve a global issue. Are you?
Sarasota resident David Houle is a globally recognized futurist. He has given speeches on six continents, written seven books and is futurist in residence at the Ringling College of Art and Design. His website is davidhoule.com. Email him at david@davidhoule.com.
