Time we got back to nuclear. New technologies in nuclear are here, with smaller footprints and safer than ever.
And, it's zero CO2 emissions energy. The waste issue can be and is being solved.
"OMG colonialism!" is a straw man. Not sure what the point of that is, other than being the redundant and dreary anti-US spin we seem to get too much of from our "independently minded" young people.
Let's get to the issues and approach them with objective solutions.
Think nuclear. It's going to become the centerpiece of the energy conversation sooner or later.
22
@smacc1 - well, "OMG colonialism" is the enthusiasm of a young mind. we were all there once.
you are absolutely correct that nuclear power is an essential part of the solution. there is no credible scenario from here to sustainable carbon emissions that does not include it. in fact i have a personal, short checklist of key terms -- "nuclear power," "carbon tax," "reduced consumption," "slower economic growth" -- that i use to evaluate the seriousness of any politician or policy proposal.
as greta thunberg memorably put it: "The real danger is when companies and politicians are making it look like real action is happening, when in fact almost nothing is being done."
5
@smacc1
Her point is the attitude of maximum resource exploitation at all costs.
8
There's merit in the colonialism argument, without doubt. It's great material in a college classroom. But then I watch the constant automobile and gas-guzzling pick-up truck traffic here in my little corner of liberal-to-the-max Massachusetts, nearly all of these vehicles with only a driver and no passengers, and I know we're dead in the water.
I'm sure the majority of those drivers would tell you they're very concerned about climate change. But are you going to stop driving to work, to get the groceries almost every day, to "quick run out to" this store or that? I'm not, if I'm honest. It just isn't how you can function in American society now.
And this is just one little facet of the problem.
14
@Jack Klompus
<== Jack Klompus makes some very good points: that getting his neighbors, much less citizens of the world, to do the needful to slow or halt the pace towards climate Armageddon will be a challenge.
But when those neighbors of his make a "quick run out to [the store", most of them avoid doing so at 80 miles per hour or faster. Why? Because government regulation prohibits that, promulgated to benefit society as whole at the price of some necessary inconvenience for those in a hurry.
And that is the key. Slowing or halting climate change will require limitations effected by our elected representatives and government. For example, no more manufacture or sale of poor-mileage vehicles after a certain date, nor any fossil-fuel vehicles at some date when that becomes technologically feasible at large scale (already possible for many cars and some trucks).
So someday, when Jack's future neighbors make that "quick trip" using electricity generated from entirely renewable sources (sun, wind, tide), it will be because laws and regulations were put into effect.
Thus, Trump's selfish, ignorant, and thoughtless attempt to roll back California's emissions standards may not affect him at his advanced age. But Ivanka's and Eric's and Don Junior's grand-children will be paying the price and living in shame for what their infamous ancestor did to the Earth.
11
Well, good for the youth for finally taking this crisis seriously and getting up and taking a stand. But I just have to say, as an old, tired and used up person who devoted my whole life to species conservation, habitat preservation, and education, it's not like I have been sitting around doing nothing my whole life. I got a masters degree and worked in the environmental field. I have gone to countless demonstrations, written letters, gone to hearings, and done what I can. I am constantly filled with grief and remorse about the state of the the planet and what mankind is doing. I just hope the younger people have more success than I did, but, and I'm sorry to say it, but the science and the facts tell us that we are in deep trouble.
18
You're 17 years old and been doing this since you were a freshman. Can I ask you what are your credentials? Are you well versed in history, engineering, and an expert statistician? Then you should know the last time bad science took over the belief's and value's of a large percentage of the world it led to 12 million dead in concentration camps. You do know there's people deeply embedded in the ecology movement, Greenpeace and the Green Party believe the population should be reduced to between 2 billion and 10 million. What science backs those numbers. Think of the Marvel comics character Thano's thats where this is leading.
You must pay bills. Do you know some people can't afford high energy prices. California and Germany are spending twice and three times what most of us pay. How would you keep your family warm during the winter if you can't pay your bills? The recovery from the last recession was because of cheap energy. You were five in '08?
Green policies have unintended consequences. The world is full of leaders that have no idea how the world works. Become an expert in something besides propaganda. Try to understanding the statistics and models are not reliable especially the further into the future they try to predict.
Yes climate change is happening but the problem is leaders like yourself are going to make it worse.
5
If we can agree that the root of climate change is colonialism??? Are you serious? Never going to happen. We all don't agree on this. By WE I mean the voters. The people who work for a living served in the military, raised kids. Something you've never done. The majority of voters would disagree with everything you've written in this column. The facts don't back up your claims. You mentioned the Youth Climate March & Climate Lobby Day on Capitol Hill in 2018. One question. Were any laws passed by Congress that moved your agenda forward? No. Of course not. Kids have no power, no votes, & no money. That means politicians are free to pat you on the back, say good job, & then forget about you two seconds later. Isn't that what happened? If you want things to change then lobby your parents. They are the ones paying the bills...particularly your bills. See if you can convince them to support a climate tax where we triple the cost of gas to say $10 a gallon. For this to “work,” the price of oil, coal, & natural gas has to go up to force consumers to use more expensive forms of green energy. President Obama’s former OMB director, Peter Orszag, told Congress that price increases would be essential to the success of any program to reduce greenhouse gases. The majority of U.S. voters will never go for this. They won't pay more for energy. Period. Every poll backs this up. I would urge you to do your homework before you recklessly wade into an issue as complicated as this.
6
I'm with you, but to decolonize means to decapitalize. There is no green capitalism.
3
Too bad for you, kid... The fabulously greedy corporate guys are winning this one: GOP Win$!
This piece and the work that you and your peers are doing is fantastic. I and so many just a few years older than you, adults in our mid-twenties, are with you. It is our future too, our careers, future families, and world in question. I grew up knowing about and understanding climate and have had a sense of hopelessness about it for several years. Your generation, while not far removed from mine, is giving me real hope. Remember many adults stand with you today and all days!
4
This is what very much needed in youth. I wholeheartedly appreciate you, young lady but at the same time please think and implement in your life to save the Mother Earth from exploitation bit by bit. You can easily find a number of ways to make it happen.
It’s we, who have caused all the damage by our style of living and as such it’s onus upon us to contribute in a small way. Drop by drop, it becomes an ocean. All the best.
1
"If we can agree that the root of climate change is colonialism"
This is total nonsense. Of course I am not in favor of colonialism, but this is over the top.
16
Applause to those youth who truly feel threatened by lack of action on climate change. Also maybe they can have rallies and protests on a Sat. or Sun. when there is no school anyway and not miss a day. Would these rallies be so well attended then? Hmmmmmmmmm…...
4
I applaud the role played by China and India in combating climate change.
Neither are responsible for the bulk of historic carbon emissions. The US, Western Europe and Japan are to blame for that.
Per capita emissions in China and India are also far lower than that in any developed country. Yet they are asked to compromise more in climate accords.
Nevertheless, both have striven to be responsible leaders in the fight against climate change. China already produces 728 GW of renewable energy. It has taken advantage of the falling costs of solar power, to become the largest producer of solar panels. The Three Gorges Dam produces 3% of China's energy. India already has massive solar farms in Gujarat and Rajasthan states and is increasing solar capacity. In the southern state of Kerala, there is already an airport which is fully solar powered - the world's first. Both countries are actively studying how to induct electric vehicles on a mass scale.
Both countries are stepping up despite having to balance developmental needs at the same time.
Now consider the US which withdrew from the Paris climate accords and has the highest military budget by far (higher than the next 7 countries combined). In the US, cabinet members can be former executives of oil companies. A country like India may be in the developing stage, but it is unthinkable for anyone in its national cabinet (or even state cabinets) to question the validity of climate change.
So much for 336 Nobel Prizes!
2
Ms. Margolin -
I applaud your passion to effect positive change, and as a 65-year old, I understand and support ideas and leadership by younger generations in addressing important social, economic and environmental issues.
I suggest, however, that blaming Western civilization, from the Industrial Revolution forward, for climate change, is not a good way to start.
36
@gene99 If you read the article, you'd see she didn't blame the industrial revolution.
7
@gene99
Her point is the attitude of maximum resource exploitation at all costs.
6
@gene99
Perhaps it is useful to recognize that our society from the industrial revolution forward is largely an experiment and one with grave unintended consequences. For little more than 200 years, we have pursued an economic and energy model without understanding what destruction it may bring. On a 4.5 billion year old planet for which human civilization is but a blink of an eye, we have unleashed forces that we only now are beginning to understand. This is an experiment.
12
It is disappointing that many of those criticizing this article do not actually engage with the arguments but simply dismiss them as "left wing" propaganda; at best treating them as naive or worse as "ignorant." I suspect this young woman has already done more thinking about this issue in her short life than many of those mature adults criticizing her. If you do not agree with her perspective on the relation between European colonialism, brutal exploitation of the peoples and natural resources of the Americas, Africa and Asia, and the environmental crises we are facing today then articulate a more coherent and useful way to think about this problem that accounts for that history: the profound social, economic and ecological transformations brought about by colonialism and capitalism around the world. Just a cursory look at the historical record would support her thesis that the European colonial enterprise was sustained by a violent, predatory, overpowering, racist and hypocritical world view. That some of the underlying assumptions, values and conceptual perspectives of this world view are implicated in the history of capitalism in both the colonizing and colonized world to this day is actually to be expected. So yes, if we want to achieve a truly sustainable and just balance among economic, ecological and societal needs we should critically examine the ideological fundaments of both colonialism and the predatory capitalism that it enabled.
8
@Héctor Lugo I am a leftist, but guess what? You are introducing a leftist ideological critique into what scientific research has determined to be a global climate crisis. All you're doing is providing evidence for climate change deniers to claim that legitimate science and effective economic solutions (like carbon pricing) are nothing but socialism in disguise. You may be woke and academically sophisticated but your position is ultimately politically naive and environmentally destructive.
8
@Héctor Lugo
The problem is not this young person's climate activism. The tragedy is that she is the result of a "progressive" political culture that demands that children constantly and always obsess over racial identity, and see race as an essential feature to individuals and society.
She *had* to add some nonsense about white, European colonialism being the root of all evil to announce that she's woke. It's what is expected of her, what has been drilled into her. I'm surprised she didn't add that transgender people aren't disproportionately affected by climate change.
6
A society with more political activists than engineers will pat itself on the back a lot while going hungry. Most of these kids will learn how to do nothing productive but will hector you with sound bites they picked up by hypocritical politicians like Trudeau.
14
a lot of these kids are actively making more strides in mobilizing for change than just grunting on the NYT's op-ed comments section and voicing their politics (what does trudeau have to do with it?; and he's not even in their generation). we're seeing this on different fronts (e.g., gun control). like the author wrote, she'll still be under 30 when we're in dire straits. i'm assuming you're much older now than 29. they're not ready to dig their graves too.
1
There is a 12 Step saying, ' my best thinking got me here.' Meaning sitting in recovery from some substance which had literally been sucking the life out of us. Well, climate change is similar in that our best thinking, our values or lack thereof, have brought us to a juncture in time when they need reevaluation because we are damaging the ecosystems which are meant to surround us in a supportive and nurturing way. Instead, just as an addiction does with the body, the life force is being drained of all that is meant to support us.
We are being called to reevaluate our practices and our beliefs in the face of evidence which is difficult to take. Change is never easy. The New generation will lead the way because they have less invested in the past. Sad but true.
2
Heck yes, I'm with you.
I was born while John F. Kennedy was President, and as a child I was inspired by the Keep America Beautiful ad on TV, the one with the "crying Indian".
I am ashamed and aggravated by our relative inaction on the climate crisis. If we continue this inaction and this issue goes on unabated, or even exacerbated, then we as a generation will have failed. And failed spectacularly.
So yes, I will do something today. Thank you for what you do.
36
Please don't give up Ms. Margolin, even though it's going to be a very long and often discouraging slog.
35
A fantastic article for a high school student, but...
Colonialism was not the result of some insidious change in values or culture. People always tried, to the best of their abilities, to conquer and enslave others and to exploit natural resources for their own benefit. Instead, colonialism was the result of certain technological innovations that facilitated huge population growth and allowed people to achieve these ends much more efficiently.
Similarly, the current climate crisis is the result of new technologies that have immensely increased the quality and quantity of human life on this planet. It's not all about greed. Unless wanting your children to live long lives free from hunger and disease is greedy. So there are no easy answers, I'm afraid, and not too many villains.
50
@Dave
Professor who studies colonialism here. Your definition is disingenous and does a disservice to this young woman's well-written essay. You act as though colonialism was a game of "whoops! We just happened to invent all these new technologies and the next thing you know, we've conquered parts of the world! Oops a daisy!" Perhaps you are trying to remove a sense of guilt about how bad colonialism was?
Colonialism was very much about greed. It was about the willful exploitation of other peoples' resources. It was about enslaving people, forcibly bringing them to faraway places to work in hostile climates.
There was intentionality in this. For example, the Brits openly used the phrase "civilizing mission" to describe their efforts in India - if that is not an attempt to to "change...values or culture", I don't know what is. And how about missionaries openly trying to convert people and tell them their cultural practices were from the devil?
Your last sentence is wrong - there ARE easy answers. We need strong policies that protect corporations and workers from big business and to protect our environment. And we need greater respect and love for all peoples, cultures, and the environment. Pretending that colonialism has nothing to do with this because "everyone has committed atrocities at some point" is ignoring how such power inequalities are still with us.
105
@JS27 Your reply is inaccurate, Professor. While much of colonialism was/is about greed, not all of it was. Two cases you cite—British rule in India, and missionaries’ zeal to convert “heathens”—were not all and only about greed. Many of those who participated in these movements sincerely believed that they were bringing light into dark places. To be sure, many others exploited their colonial roles for personal gain, but not all, and not always.
The problem at hand today is that people will not willingly share and cooperate to the extent that Ms. Margolin wishes they would. Frankly, I see no way out of this dilemma. It seems to me that most people will not change until they are personally forced to by disaster.
We are all participating in a slow-motion train wreck, and our young people will get the worst of it. Maybe enough inspired and inspiring leaders will yet emerge in time to avert total calamity, but they better arrive pretty soon because time is running out.
8
@JS27: I too am a professor, although my research isn't on colonialism. It's on the pre-colonial world, pre-colonial India to be precise. Let me respond to two of your points.
Firstly, I offer no "definition" of colonialism. So my "definition" of it can hardly be "disingenuous," as you say. I merely suggest the cause of colonialism: changes in technology in Europe, not a change in values in Europe. For instance, the idea of Christian missionizing pre-existed colonialism, did it not?
Second, I do not hold, as you suggest, that colonialism was benign, accidental, or well-intentioned. I merely hold that the ill intentions that drove colonialism existed widely in the pre-colonial world. They certainly did in pre-colonial India. However, the technology did not. Perhaps a greater familiarity with the pre-colonial world would clear this up for you.
21
Keep fighting. You are getting attention and those of us who have been fighting for a very long time for saving our earth and creatures feel the energy.
72
There is no "climate crisis".
It's getting warmer. That may not be a bad thing. Growing seasons are getting longer. Agricultural productivity is going up (perhaps as a result of better seeds and methods, not climate change).
We're doing fine, adapting where necessary.
Some people are so desperate for meaning in their lives that they will attach themselves to any cause, good, bad or indifferent. They will even believe in it.
8
@Jonathan Katz
Let's just pretend that global warming "isn't real" or a problem, for argument's sake. How about this:
Large mammal and bird populations plummeting. Fish stocks being critically over-fished and suffering from mass die-offs and pollution. Coral reefs being killed off by pollution and warming, acidic seas. Hundreds of acres of the Amazon being lost - a day - to ranchers who burn and cut down trees to make way for cattle to graze - whose waste ruins ground water and puts methane into the air. Clean water sources drying up. Loss of ice sheets.
Etc., etc.
It takes an aggressive form of denial to suggest that the planet is not deeply out of balance.
6
This kind of thing is great news for those who say we should do nothing about climate change. They are just delighted that this issue is being sidetracked and reduced (like everything else) into the anti-whiteness intersectional post-colonial drivel. Thank you for aiding their divide-and-conquer approach, turning the big tent of folks (from the far left to the moderate right) who are concerned about the climate in upon itself.
12
Interesting perspective although gardened you a whole bunch of shade among some of the commenters. Some are wondering why strike? Why did anybody ever march or protest instead of quietly going about their daily business?
Jamie, the world is complicated, Mike Bloomberg and Al Gore may give you money but they also love to fly in private planes,. When you fly to meet your fellow climate activist you do more damage then good but you wouldn't read about it in the NYT, they need Airline advertising cash. Enjoy the festivities of the day but as long as Mile Bloomberg continues to fly his private plane, things will get worse.
11
Tackling climate change involves convincing all groups of people to make significant reductions in their standard of living. This is a herculean task. And the quickest way to lose people from your cause is to start talking about colonialism. You need to broaden your message and bring people of all walks of life over to your cause. Speaking on colonialism only appeals to left-wing activists at the expense of everyone else.
The reality of climate change is that any solution is going to hurt every day regular people. You need to work on convincing people that the pain is worth it for humanity's (or your children's) sake.
Kudos to you for getting involved at such a young age.
3
I wonder what the effect of a "I-want-nothing-for-Christimas" movement from young people would be.
9
It's all about Marxism under a different guise.
The old Big Lie.
Propagandists are playing with our children's minds and their futures.
12
@Asher B So are you saying that pollution is a lie or that pollution does not do to the air what it does to H2O and cause temperatures to rise? This is about science, not the politics of denial.
2
@GBrown
Depends on the kind of pollution. Ozone and nitrogen oxides make it warmer. Sulfate aerosols make it cooler.
2
@ GBrown... Please tell us about all the scientific journals you have personally read over the years, along with contrary papers, to show how you developed your science-based view on this issue. It's not enough to say "look at the science!" when you have never personally read the science (wikipedia's does NOT count).
1
Learned alot
She gives me hope for a better world.
4
You would have more credibility if you started by decolonizing yourself. Set an example for the rest of us by boycotting all the products that result from colonialism and so contribute to global climate change - start with iphones, ipads, computers, any and all social media, then move to sneakers and cloths, and then most modern appliances [refrigerators, stoves, microwaves, etc.], and of course, don't forget to give up any and all forms of moterized transportation [battery powered vehicles are powered by batteries and guess where they're made plus they have to be recharged and guess where the electricity comes from to do that]. In other words, if you truly had the courage of your convictions you should be willing to make real sacrifices, sacrifices that will significantly diminish your quality of life. That, of course, is what you're demanding the rest of us do, but are you willing to do it yourself?
33
@J,
Since you're giving the advice, why don't you go firsrt?
9
You don't know anything about how she lives, so let's not throw shade at her. It is really not helping.
9
@J
Ah, the classic argument: "You criticize society, yet you live in a society. Checkmate!"
The reason people are protesting is because the government (surprise!) has a lot of power and influence. Furthermore, they can use that power to reduce CO2 emissions. Systematic change is much more effective than individuals throwing away their clothes and computers.
So while some skeptics may choose to play devil's advocate, true global citizens are encouraging those in positions of power to make a difference, which is what we hire them to do.
20
Tears in my eyes for these kids. And no, Rep. Sensenbrenner, who during a meeting of climate activists with House representatives, insisted that the economy must come first -- his way of saying the Green New Deal won't work. First of all, if followed through as written the Green New Deal will generate plenty of jobs. But second, his false propping up of the status quo (in other words, the oil industry must remain in the driver's seat no matter what) won't mean much when climate crisis gets really nasty on a global scale. The toxic way of life he and those like him insist on defending at all costs will collapse, leaving a world he'll barely be able to recognize.
5
I have been aware of climate change since the early 80s, and have been fighting against it for over a decade. Today's Climate Strike serves no practical purpose, and may even be counter-productive. The strike is not going to convert deniers or even fence-sitters. Those that want to see already see.
What is far more important than converting deniers is developing solutions, and a strike, instead of providing solutions, will only aggravate employers.
Rather than strike, we need to radically improve our technology for clean, affordable and abundant energy at break neck speed. We need financing solutions to aid people in installing clean alternative energy. For starters, what if we just facilitated the installation of on-demand water heaters?
Instead of whining, what if we actually did something about the problem?
3
@John Patt
Anyone who says strikes and protests don't matter is not a student of history. Try passing civil rights legislation without visible nationwide pressure.
More to the point, what else can people do? I'm vegetarian, I buy locally, I recycle, I don't own a car, I bike to work, I use LED lights, and I work for an eco-friendly company. This hasn't stopped the government from slashing EPA regulatory power and cutting emissions requirements. Even my taxes go to oil companies. History shows us that the best option is to tell the people in power that we're coming for their jobs unless they fix this.
5
@Riley You're missing my point. Striking will not produce new clean technology. We're not going to get much support from people when we have to mandate that their temps in the winter be no higher than 62. It would be much more effective of us to produce a liquid fuel that is made from renewable energy, so that we could keep our children warm.
@John Patt
I see your point, and I agree. Whoever develops a stable and sustainable energy storage system will essentially solve the largest energy hurdle in the world right now.
Most of us, however, are not chemical engineers or venture capitalists who can actually make that happen. The most powerful things that young people have are their voice and their vote, and that's what they're fighting with.
1
I have been aware of climate change since the early 80s, and have been fighting against it for over a decade. Today's Climate Strike serves no practical purpose, and may even be counter-productive. The strike is not going to convert deniers or even fence-sitters. Those that want to see already see.
What is far more important than converting deniers is developing solutions, and a strike, instead of providing solutions, will only aggravate employers.
Rather than strike, we need to radically improve our technology for clean, affordable and abundant energy at break neck speed. We need financing solutions to aid people in installing clean alternative energy. For starters, what if we just facilitated the installation of on-demand water heaters?
Instead of whining, what if we actually did something about the problem?
1
I dont understand climate hysteria. So Canada and Siberia become livable and the African Desert becomes a bigger desert. The sea rises which will require that we abandon the old horribly designed cities of the past for new well planned cities of the future.
Some animals die while others thrive, i.e. the situation that the earth has been in for 3 billion years since animal life came into being. We have some bad weather which if we build our new cities better we wont have to deal with.
Basically, what I see climate change do is force us to create more livable and better planned cities, build houses to codes that can survive some storms, and give millions of jobs to poor people who will build these new cities. Also, migration of people to the north and south of the world. I mean, Canada, Greenland, and Siberia are pretty much empty space right now. I dont see any issues with people from Congo moving to a place like Greenland.
The world changes. We should just deal with it instead of becoming all apocalyptic about it. I mean, some of these climate change people make it seem like the whole world will just die, while in the past CO2 levels were like 1000s of ppms higher and animal life thrived just fine. If humans can live in space then we can live in a world that's 4C hotter.
6
In France, most regions are having water usage restrictions, due to intense drought. Houston is facing intense flooding. Quite a few peoples are being faced with losing their countries due to rising sea levels. Milllions of people are facing heat so intense that it can kill. Horrendous wildfires are plaguing an ever increasing number of places. Insects and birds are disappearing, fast. With them, food sources are disappearing too. What are your technical solutions to that? And where do you think we'll find the energy sources to implement them? As La Fontaine put it, referring to the plague, not everyone died from it, but all suffered from it.
3
@Jacqueline Not a bad idea if your reduce the worlds population by 90% first.
4
@Jacqueline Climate change is the outcome of pollution. You know what else is an outcome of pollution? Water scarcity, smog, asthma and a poor quality of life. Moving north isn't a solution.
1
I learned a new word today -- "intersectionality". This concept has relatively recently arisen among left-oriented academics. Oversimplified, it states that all forms of oppression are interrelated, and to deal with one effectively you must deal with all. Hence, the intent of approaches like the Green New Deal is to cure a plethora of social and economic evils in order to stop negative climate change. Unfortunately the main message to fight climate change is being disabled, distorted, and diluted by introducing a plethora of political ideas that will only sidetrack effective action into a dead end of endless political and historical debates. While well-intentioned, conflating political ideology with the science of global warming will only serve to shoot the climate movement in both feet.
15
@Steven Hecht
Amen, amen, amen! Social and climate justice have now co-opted the climate change movement. If you want to be effective, keep it simple. But instead we have introduced "complete system change" into the equation. Not everyone who is concerned about climate change is in favor of reparations, for example. Deniers are not the problem. SJW's are the new problem.
8
@Steven Hecht To be even more specific: Conflating climate science and scientific and economic solutions for global warming with leftist analyses of social injustice is giving climate change deniers the perfect opportunity to cast legitimate climate science as leftist propaganda. They are thanking woke environmentalists from the bottom of their greedy hearts.
2
You are amazing, please keep up your efforts and ignore the naysayers. YOU and the youth in this world are the future. I agree 100% that the attitude that the precious resources of this planet, including human capital, are there for the powers that be to pillage and plunder, an attitude you label colonialism, is at the root of many of society’s ills including climate change. Though I couldn’t join the march today, I am with you in spirit, all the way.
12
I'm all for action on the climate, but lectures on "colonialism" by school skipping teenagers are of no interest to me.
27
Conflating climate change with other social/political issues only lessens the chance of effectively addressing climate change. We need a massive shift to energy sources that do not produce greenhouse gases (wind, solar, hydro and, yes, nuclear) and a focus on reducing population growth, particularly in regions that still have rapid population growth. The technology to achieve the first already exists; the second is a more difficult social problem.
17
@Joel Except for one form of oppression, that is. One rroot cause of climate change is human overpopulation. What is the root cause of overpopulation? Oppression of women, and their lack of control over their fertility. So there's your campaign, kids. Empower women globally to have smaller families. Also, don't forget about the coal industry, hint hint.
4
@nerdrage
No. Overpopulation has to do with the enormous advances our modern world has made in infant mortality and lifespan.
And...ironically, the more modernized a nation's infrastructure becomes, the smaller families become.
3
If you want to reduce your personal carbon footprint, Jamie, you can simply emigrate to any of the countries in which CO2 emissions per capita is dramatically lower than here in the U.S. These are not necessarily hardship posts and include Switzerland, Sweden, China, Mexico, etc. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions_per_capita
4
So, it's not the modern industrial infrastructure which has created profoundly longer, happier, healthier, more stable, more comfortable and exciting lives which is causing the global climate crisis.
It's not merely that all of humanity must learn to stop taking from Mother Earth so much, to do with less and create smaller footprints.
It's not that all of humanity has to wake up to the costs of these things, look inward and consider what sacrifices we need to individually make.
It is that we first must indict Western Civilization, European colonization - whiteness to be specific - in order to understand the climate crisis. Ugh.
To those who deny that liberals have turned politics and activism into a religion, note how Whiteness is always the original sin.
Young Ms. Margolin will do very, very well in college, for sure.
16
I'm 70 years old and, yes, I'm striking with you. I'm also in awe of you. I wasn't anywhere near as aware or as articulate as you when I was your age. You give me hope for the future. Thank you.
17
There is no evidence from either the Bible or scientific study that life exists anywhere else except on earth. I’m striking today because if we make the earth uninhabitable, we will be in really, really serious trouble, and I don’t just mean dead. Every person who believes in God ought to be alarmed by the anti-life policies of the U.S. and other countries. We are destroying God’s crowning achievement - what possible worse sin is there? “Thou shalt not kill the entire planet” Did Moses really need to carve the whole thing out for you?
10
So proud of you and your commitment to justice.
6
The root cause of climate change is overpopulation. Period. Full stop.
7
Every time a person says that, I wonder if they are aware they are part of the problem, and if they realize what that implies. You first.
2
@Marie
I'm 67 and not a parent, are you?
2
It's stunning how many American adults think climate change is fake and demonstrating for the health of the earth is nonsense, but then believe in God and dutifully go to their tax-sheltered for-profit church to pretend they are saved. Christopher Hitchens, I miss you every single day.
13
@Tintin,
Thank the Koch brothers, in the main, for that.
1
Thank you Jamie. You and those working along side of you are heroes. March on...
4
No. I will not strike with you. Your thoughts are misguided. There is no incentive for global powers to do anything to save the climate. The real mass extinction will be the baby boomers. Then, perhaps, with enough motivated people like yourself, we can make better choices about our future.
1
Blaming it all on one generations is plain ridiculous. It took 100s of years for human activities to become a significant contributor to climate change. Baby boomers could’ve done better and that generation produced Trump. But it also produced Rachel Carson, Bill McKibbon and Michael Svoboda, not to mention countless scientists who were the first to investigate and connect the dots to global warming. The baby boomers didn’t create the mess all on their own, now are they able to fix it, but I agree, that generation should’ve done way better especially considering many were awake to the issues.
2
The baby boomers are no different than any other generation. Greed and aggression rule the human race. The next generation will act the same. T'was ever thus.
4
...And that should’ve been “nor are they able to fix it” (on their own.) This is obviously a massive problem, runaway train that may not be fixable - perhaps the best we can hope for is to slow it down or cap it @ a couple degrees.
Why haven’t I heard of your movement? Why don’t you reach out more to older adults. We, too, are concerned and have the means to support your cause.
3
Subdue the Earth began with the Bible. The Bible give colonization permission to happen in religious people's minds. YES! YES! We will march with you. We want humans to stop believing in the Apocalypse and to start believing in their love for their children, their lives, their futures. Wake up! March today!
3
We are all 'Jamie Margolin' now, a movement against the destructive beast within us...and best represented by a vulgar bully that assaulted the presidency under false pretenses, a denier of the science behind man-made climate changes...already biting our 'behinds' by way of an increase in the frequency and severity of natural disasters (floods, droughts, fires, disease and premature death). Your efforts must be emulated, supported, and made reality...if we are to survive our own stupidity in destroying Earth's habitat (of which we depend, and are part of).
3
Anyone who is captivated by the author’s precocious neo-Marxism would do well to consider the ecological atrocities committed in the name of socialist equality. Good luck hitching your cause to that particular wagon.
9
One of the ways to effect “complete system change” is to transform the unjust, unsustainable, and therefore, unstable international monetary system and use this transformation to deal with the looming climate catastrophe. The commercial, intellectual, ecological and strategic dimensions of such carbon-based international monetary system are seminally presented in Verhagen 2012"The Tierra Solution: Resolving the Climate Crisis through Monetary Transformation" (www.timun.net). This new global governance system is based on the monetary carbon standard of a specific tonnage of CO2e per person and its associated balance of payments mechanism that accounts for both financial and climate debts and credits.
States one of the world’s best- known climate specialists about this Tierra global governance system: “The further into the global warming area we go, the more physics and politics narrows our possible paths of action. Here’s a very cogent and well-argued account of one of the remaining possibilities.” Bill McKibben, May 17, 2011
1
Smart move by the progressives. Give kids an open license to ditch school on a Fall Friday, and then count the number of absences as an indication of universal support among youth for almost any anti-energy regulatory action dressed up as being related to climate change. I wonder how many students will return to school later in the day for the football game?
5
I’m older and a member to the baby boom generation, the group that has done nothing to reverse the inevitable. Both of my adult children have decided not to have children because they do not want to add to over population and subject another human being to the effects of global climate change and pollution. I find this to be my ultimate punishment for not being more proactive, that being missing the joys of being a grand-parent.
I encourage everyone to study economics and the potential life-saving effect of a global tax on CO2 emissions; in the end this may very well be our last hope to save the planet.
7
The really sad thing is that the ship on climate has sailed. The changes are now irreversible.
When looking at past and present studies predicting which areas will be inundated with water, the changes show the timelines speeding up exponentially. Where initially it was 125-150 years we are now down to 50, with that number likely decreasing every year. The best we can do is to move to areas least likely to be severely impacted by those changes, and hope that those in power who are allowing this to happen don’t come to where we are and invoke eminent domain
4
For quite some time now, I have felt compelled to apologize to my students for the horror my and my parents’ generation has increasingly hastened to bring to pass. We must all strive to educate or vote out the climate deniers and take the most radical actions possible to halt the warming of our still beautiful planet.
3
admirable sentiments, and one cannot help but stand in solidarity with children everywhere. not merely on climate change, but on health, education and a decent range of entry level jobs.
but infrastructure, not oppression, belches out the carbon emissions: we must change our energy, transport and agricultural infrastructure. metaphorical reasoning that makes 18th century davy crockett a climate criminal is not helping at all.
third world countries do have a seat at the table, as signatories to the paris accords and influential participants in those negotiations. meanwhile, focus on any injustice to gabon or namibia is taking attention off the fossil fuel corporate executives and shareholders living among us -- and they thank you for it.
5
@drollere
It's not either or. It's both.
1
On the one hand, I'm super impressed with Ms. Margolin's passion and way with words. On the other, it's really tragic that adults (looking at you, my fellow liberals) have taught her to have such a hopeless outlook on life by hammering on the climate "crisis" just like Bush hammered on the terrorism "crisis" 20 years ago.
"I am striking because it is pointless to study for a future that does not exist." The future absolutely exists. The climate is going to change but humans are resourceful and adaptable and so is the earth, which recently recovered from a "little ice age" that lasted for centuries and just ended two hundred years ago with ecosystems and human society largely intact. Plenty of people and animals will die in the process just like they always have and always will (it's in our nature of course), but focused, motivated, optimistic, educated people will be best positioned to help move us to a better place and fully realize their lives and potential in the process.
2
@Zartan - your optimism is salutary but your reasoning is patently misguided. as for your "little ice age," its worst impact was that vineyards disappeared in britain; there were no mass famines and migrations because the climate was not killingly cold and the sparse population could readily adapt their food and economic resources. the future exists, surely; but without climate action it will include tens of millions of humans deprived of water, crops, even land to live on. millions, mostly in africa and asia, mostly the very young and very old, will perish the heat. a careerist slogan such as "fully realize their lives" hardly answers to the gravity of that climate crime. read "uninhabitable earth" and learn what is actually at stake.
6
@drollere I hope everyone who believes this is a vegan who doesn’t drive a car or fly. Because if not there is some severe cognitive dissonance going on.
1
Fact: scientific evidence is overwhelming that if unchecked, the global climate crisis could make human life on this planet extremely challenging.
Fact: a teenager even half aware of the science has every right to fear for his or her future.
Fact: no matter what has led to this pending disaster (greed, colonialism and its exploitation, our choices for energy), it is the grown ups in the world who are failing to act aggressively enough, and the ONLY thing a child can do is protest and hopefully shame enough grownups to do something.
I find most of the criticism of this important editorial disingenuous and ignoring the underlying facts. To the extent that Jamie’s words and efforts on behalf of the world are heard and acted upon, we owe her and other youth a massive expression of gratitude.
32
@JPGeerlofs
Thank you for this! You put into words so well exactly what I was thinking (and fuming about) as I read these comments. We're the adults in the room, let's act like it!
2
Yes I'm with you! To me, dominance is synonymous with colonialism.
It's dominance that must be obliterated: human dominance over nature, men's dominance over humans.
7
Colonialism could be replaced with ‘human history’. All of human history has been exploitive and problematic. If you read a book you’ll learn; Africans sold Africans to Europeans, the indigenous people of South America preformed human sacrifice, the people of Easter Island deforested their land, and the Mesopotamians overgrazed their land into a desert. And they were all sexist.
Colonialism was bad. But the ruthless pursuit of capitalism gave our young writer her iPhone, her mascara and a home in a city in the lands of indigenous people’s of the northwest.
14
@Jack so what? Ignore climate change because girls use mascara. Whataboutism at its stupidist.
4
@Jack
But we, here and now, know better and should do better.
3
Thank you!! an attitude of colonialism is at the root, and there is much we can learn from indigenous cultures. And humility about our arrogant assumptions.
3
@Mary - let's focus on the near term problem, replacing carbon generated electricity and transportation, reducing consumption and living with more modest conceptions of wealth and prosperity, and the "colonialist" attitudes will take care of themselves.
Nothing will happen until Trump and McConnell are defeated. Focus, focus, focus on that. I applaud the marchers; I agree with their goals. They need to direct their energy to defeating the climate deniers. Only then can we hope to address the climate catastrophe.
10
@Peter E Derry - my question to you, mr. derry, with your partisan sentiments and bystander applause: what have you personally, in your own lifestyle and routines, done to reduce your carbon footprint? independent of the politicians we say we distrust, how have you put your personal choices at the center of your personal opinions? i don't raise this point ad hominem, but in the observation that the USA electorate, at present, likes to talk the talk on climate change -- as they commute in their low mpg SUV and jet off to a foreign vacation.
3
Your current approach will not work. If you really want to get rid of fossil fuels (for most applications) in your life time, study nuclear fusion and design a nuclear fusion reactor. It will be much easier to convince the world to give up fossil fuels if you have a cheaper, cleaner, viable alternative.
5
@Scott,
Hmm, nuclear fusion. I always wondered about that. It always seems to be 30 years into the future. For 50 years, now.
But fusion is actually hard, and the work is being done, but I don't know if it will be ready on time.
Climate change is a huge issue but even if we accept the dubious premise that colonization is the root cause, European settlers were neither the originators nor sole practitioners of colonization. The Egyptians, Greeks, Romans and Persians at various times conquered much of the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern world. And Hannibal and the Carthaginians tried to colonize Europe centuries before Europeans would colonize their descendants in Africa.
Meanwhile over in Asia, Ghengis Khan was busy not just conquering virtually every part of Asia but also committing genocide on an unsurpassed scale. Under his rule the Mongol Empire was the largest contiguous empire in human history and he killed as many as 40 million people or roughly 11% of the world's population.
Back in the Americas, slavery and colonization were well underway thanks to the Aztecs who conquered rival groups and imposed tribute requirements to keep their empire thriving. They of course also practiced human sacrifice and even, at times cannibalism, often with their conquered rivals being the unfortunate victims. Similarly the Incas used force to build a large empire throughout much of South America.
The reality is that colonialism and exploitation have been the norm in human history. The Western World is unique in being the first human society to own some responsibility for that history and for giving us the humanistic framework from which to condemn colonialism. Please do your research Ms. Margolin.
16
@Jon P
Ms. Margolin is correct in that it was the European expansionists and colonizers who brought with them the idea of maximum exploitation of people's and resources. The earlier Empires may have taken much of the existing wealth of the conquered. But they were not out to completely use up the very resources that produced that wealth. Rome did not starve the Egyptians and destroy the Nile's ability to be the Granary of southern Europe They did the opposite. Alexander and the Ptolemy's did not ravage the Tigris and Euphrates valleys to feed Greece. Only 'we" have the notion to keep drawing resources out of the ground until there's nothing left. While ravaging the surrounding area. Witness the new oil leases in the Arctic Refugee. Will we be like the person who cut down the last tree on Easter Island? (Or present day, on Madagascar) Or will we show we're smarter and more "civilized"? That is what a PROPER reading of history shows us.
3
This is 1st editorial anywhere that clearly expressed the extreme urgency for action on climate change. Written by an 18-year old, not by one of us who considers ourselves to be older and wiser (I'm 74.)
Quoting Jimmy Carter, who started the DOE for the gas Crisis in 1977, "This is the moral equivalent of War." It is as if we were being overrun by 5-million invading soldiers whose plan is to destroy us. Only we did it to ourselves.
Our response as a country was to elect Donald Trump who thinks it is a hoax.
With an invasion, one does not sit back and play with one's smart phone and say, "gosh I like the status quo, but with a bigger salary. How about if we just sit back and see how bad it gets." But that is what we are doing. And we will be defeated if we continue.
People will hate this next comment because they still don't grasp the issue. Dedicating huge resources to climate is more important than the next Defense budget, it is more important than gun laws, it is more important than overturning Row v Wade.
Without climate change under control those things won't make any difference at all!
Young people, TELL the older people around you how to vote and be abrasive about it if you must. There are no rebuttals to the importance of this. No "Yes but ... " If you can vote, vote only for candidates with climate change as NUMBER ONE. Probably most candidates with long tenure or over 50 years old.
Vote, overwhelmingly, for controlling climate change in 2020.
9
@DGP Rereading my own post. 2nd to last sentence should read "Probably vote against most candidates with long tenure or over 50 years old."
3
I read a book about Geronimo, who was an Apache in the southwestern US (and northern Mexico). He was captured and lived until 1909. He was born before white men ever came west. So, he lived at a time when there were no white men and until white men had eliminated just about all Native Americans through genocide or putting them on reservations.
He observed that the "White Man" destroyed everything in Nature. It was not about stewardship, but instead, the taking of everything: the land, the animals, fish, water, everything.
Geronimo said that Apaches and other native Americans had to take into account the effect of their actions would have on the next seven generations.
Wouldn't it be great if we would start taking into our account on the seven generations that will follow us?
7
As a white, male suburbanite over sixty who believes in incremental change in all major endeavors, I should dislike people like Margolin and Greta Thunberg and find nothing but flaws in what their methods. (Thunberg's trip to New York by sailboat and the crew that sailed with her will cause far more carbon emissions than if she'd simply flown here on her own, for example.) But instead, my heart swells with joy and hope.
I want them to strike, march, vote when they're eighteen and enact extreme change by any peaceful means they can.
Although they may have limited influence on people like me, they will have much over their peers. Think of all the good books you read and good things you did when you were a teenager to bond with a peer you admired who did them. The desire the young have to fit in is usually cited as a negative thing that leads to smoking, drinking, drug use, and unsafe sex, but that's not always the case.
8
Wow. Jamie and other youth around the world are taking action, inspiring thousands - maybe millions? - of all ages to do SOMETHING. Are each and every climate activist 100% right about every detail? No. But they are 100% right that we need to do more to reduce our impact on the environment. Shame on you for finding faults in the details to justify yet another day of inaction.
5
@Scientist What's wrong with being interested in details? Ignorance of details smells like dogma and a new religion. Isn't it science that will solve this problem? I'm a scientist and, when people disdain details, I know they're not talking about science.
4
@Charles Coughlin
I agree with you: we need science and we need details. But we can't let imperfections in details derail the main message. It is too easy to justify inaction when what we need is action.
1
@Scientist Unfortunately "the main message" to fight climate change is being disabled, distorted, and diluted by introducing a plethora of political ideas that will only sidetrack effective action into a deadend of endless political and historical debates. While well-intentioned, conflating political ideology with science will only serve to shoot the climate movement in both feet.
1
Your editorial restores my faith in the future of humanity. Being born in 1950 it has been painful observing mankind regress and reject scientific proof of the harm we inflict on nature through much needless pollution. Thank you and all who support the efforts to make a change for the survival all living things.
7
These types of arguments are a perfect example of "scope creep", which is always bound to derail any initiative. The progressive left is trying to bundle the fight against climate change with a bunch of other initiatives that are at best tangentially related. T
If climate change is a true existential threat, then the scope of the solution needs to be fighting the existential threat, not bolting on a bunch of other agenda items that will only slow momentum and turn away potential allies.
20
Good job speaking up, we need to hear more from young people of all ages. At the same time, I hope we hear from other voices with more focus. Equating the climate problem with decolonization sounds like 60s radicalism that will never play well beyond a limited audience. Even among many in your own peer group, attitudes and beliefs will change as they grow older, have jobs and families and the concerns that come with those things.
Incidentally, do consider that the 'global south' has spoken up what they want is waivers from climate restrictions so their economies can grow, equating that as they see it to a fair playing board comparable to what richer counties had years back. Unfortunately that goal is largely in contradiction to climate progress, as the populations involved are very large.
3
Keep patting yourself on the back as the vast majority of youth and young adults live in a world of consumption and flexibility. Once they figure out that will have to come to end to fight climate change then they won’t be so interested.
20
It is important to be aware that while China and India produce more greenhouse gases per nation than any other country. the U.S. continues to produce the highest greenhouse gases per capita. However, due to Obama's environmental policies and regulations, the US had begun to reduce emissions. Then Trump rolled back all of these policies and U.S. emissions began to climb again. We are headed in the wrong direction in this country
19
It's sad to see students neglect their education because they believe wrong alarmist claims that they won't have a future anyway. I do hope that the author's strikes help convince the Chinese government to slow and then reduce greenhouse emissions, as otherwise emissions cuts in the US will be meaningless.
9
Neglect their education? Do you really think one day of missed classes creates anywhere near the threat to their future that climate change does?
23
Mono Man: The largest learning in life most often takes place OUT of the classroom. September 20 - 27 represents one of those occasions for our youth. The question is, are the older generations capable of learning and change?
9
Actually, I do.
If you are not only striking for the climate, then you are likely talking on your cellphone, dating, going to class, taking exams and doing other things as well. If you are striking against colonialism, capitalism, or other evils of doing business as usual, then you are striking not only for the climate.
They don't teach no good English in skool no more.
4
Well done! I'm not sure why there are so many comments nitpicking your message. The bottom line is you and your peers are waking up the world. Thank you! I think all nations should have an environmental branch of the government populated with a good amount of young people, rather than aging corporate puppets. Corruption runs rampant.
64
@figure8
Corruption runs rampant among everyone, old and young. The young people in high school just aren't old enough to know whether they're the kinds of people to reject the possibility of money in their pocket today for a decent world tomorrow.
If these young people are serious, one of the issues they'll work on is the problem of excessive plane travel. Let's see if they're ready to give up their instagram-worthy shots on top of mountains and around Europe in exchange for the planet.
And for the record, if adults weren't being held hostage at work with the American standard of almost no PTO per year, then maybe they might have time and energy to think about these issues. But for as long as we lose out on labor standards, none of the exhausted workers and single parents and parents are going to go home from their ten-hour days and think about the best way to make a delicious vegan meal.
3
@figure8 -- Agreed. The condescending tone of some of these comments is breathtaking.
4
Jamie,
Conscientious outrage and despair may be cathartic, but otherwise limited use. You can make a difference personally and influence those around you to do the same. It will also challenge your own resolve to make the sacrifices necessary. Buy local, unpackaged foods, avoid meat as it is much more energy costly than vegetable production, walk and ride your bicycle everywhere, including to grocery store etc, don’t water lawn, collect and drink rainwater, create a natural environment in your yard to please butterflies, bees, insects and birds, etc. Consider every action you take and if you can do it, or an alternative, with less environmental impact. Also read scientific facts in peer reviewed journals to gather your own ideas, ignore everything on Facebook etc as it is mostly hyped, unfounded opinion - we used to call propaganda, but you know that
Good luck. We need more people engaged in our environment making personal, local, national and global decisions for the long future. Make your life an honest one without hyperbole, others will follow
3
Climate change true believers will be very unhappy about the headline here, tying climate change to the privilege/oppression philosophy that is poisoning the West. It draws back the curtain on the political rather than scientific basis for much of the climate change movement.
Douglas Murray just published a book describing just how irrational and destructive this very recent privilege/oppression philosophy—which creates a long list of victim groups and then pits them against their oppressors and all of the other victim groups, is. It is a recipe for cultural destruction. Interestingly, Mayor Pete recently criticized, if implicitly, this destructive new philosophy when he said he was no longer reading publications with a primarily gay audience because of the way they pitted those who were “not gay enough” against properly gay or too gay people. And it’s worth noting that as a self described gay atheist, Murray’s book may stem in part from a similar experience.
6
Dear girl - you received a poor history education. China is currently one of the top polluters in the world. China was never ‘colonized’ by Europe. China first has to care about pollution and then maybe they will do something about it. Until then, all your efforts to compost and ban straws will have no impact on global temperatures.
16
@Collie Sue
Lassie, google "China's Century of Humiliation" then apologize for the comment about history education.
While I largely agree with the author, there are other root causes that cannot be ignored: the advent of commerce, population (not only reducing growth but also reducing from credit levels), and our global economic system which is based on growth = success (and thus incentivizes population growth).
3
I’m with you, your generation, and your roadmap towards justice and survival. Readers, please stop the nitpicking, be thankful for our young people who have an analysis of our past, and follow.
7
Nuclear power must be part of the solution if this threat is as existential as people claim.
5
Such a broad definition of climate! However, I'll save the nitpicking for my colleagues in the academy. This girl, yeah, she may be just reciting the old lines from the left, whatever. She's a teenager, and teens are dogmatic in pretty much all of their beliefs. I'm just glad that she appears more than merely functional literate which, as a college educator, I can't say of most of her peers. Sometimes, one dares to hope.
5
Yes, my spouse and I support you. Please also take a look at HR763 The Energy Efficiency and Carbon Dividend Act. It will take us a long way to decolonizing the energy industry. We are working hard to get it passed, but we need you.
We are joining you today. Please Get behind Citizens Climate Lobby with us. There are many actions our organizations can take together!
Thank you. You are my hero!
4
I applaud the effort of people like Ms. Margolin. But the righteous blame game (colonialism ??) will solve nothing; blaming older people for a very human problem is a subtle way of patting yourself on the back and deferring responsibility.
Until people like the writer admit that we are all, young, old rich and poor, responsible for the conditions on earth there will be no unity of response. Students at my school are walking out today but the vast majority of "protestors" still drive in every day and refuse to take the bus. So...
The problem, Ms. Margolin, is that you and I are human, not old or greedy or fond of colonialism. Look in the mirror before pointing any fingers.
9
Well, we just need to explain to China, India, and the industrializing Africa that colonialism is to blame for the climate and I’m sure they’ll all stop polluting to the detriment of their massive, and rapidly growing populations.
I can’t imagine being an adult and agreeing with this essay - having a view of history so narrow and myopic that it seems obvious all of the ills of the world began with the European colonialism, including climate change. It’s utter nonsense. Even without it, the world would have reached the industrial revolution, resulting in massive population increase, fossil fuel use, and resource extraction.
Now, if you wanted to make an argument that the driving force behind climate change is capitalism, I could at least understand the argument. When the accumulation of cash alone is the primary motivator for most of civilization, nothing can be sacred, including the planet or our children’s future.
12
I am saddened to hear this young woman, who at 18 is full of despair. I can not help but think of my mother and some of her friends and the mothers of friends, who at the same age faced far worse situations. At 17, my mother had survived the Battle of Stalingrad, only to be sent into forced labor in Germany. She lived to be 94 and was optimistic her whole life, because she had already seen the worst that life threw her way. Her best friend was taken into slavery in 1941 at the age of 16, losing her family forever. She just passed away a month short of her 94th birthday. Somehow she moved forward . Many of the parents of my friends were Holocaust survivors. The key word is "survivor".
If AOC wants to make the battle for the environment her "second world war", then she needs to look at how people survived in the most horrid of conditions. Alone, in foreign countries, with war raging around them, lack of language, no support system, wearing a badge that did not allow them to take a bus or go into an air raid shelter, eating sawdust bread. Not fretting about how she was going to complete her college applications, sitting in a warm home with loving parents. She has to believe that she has a future and that she can make it.
9
You are a very bright and courageous young woman. I will be out supporting this movement in Santa Fe. This is the most serious issue facing the world since the beginning of recorded time. There is so much to lose that it is unimaginable how we will even begin to pay for it, not to mention the human toll. We know what to do, but the powers that run the world have too much to lose currently and the human toll unfortunately is not one of their concerns. Until the ordinary citizens of the world understand the seriousness of the situation without waiting until it personally effects them, we will not succeed. This is the biggest obstacle in this David and Goliath battle.
4
Ms. Margolin and her acolytes are to be commended for their respective interest in doing something constructive about Climate Change.
It is unfortunate that she and her peers appear to be products of a current education system that expresses greater interest about ensuring that the young men and women in presently school have positive self-esteem, rather than producing literate citizens in English, math, science, et al. The absence of such literacy means that the tools to handle important challenges may not be drawn upon.
I've been a professional scientist for more than forty (40) years. My training is based on considering all of the available information (in order to make an informed decision). While a young woman such as Ms. Margolin may ultimately aspire to this level, the reality is that her present lack of education and experience indicates (to those of my bent) that rational discussion with her is not possible.
Essays like this one (without a counter-opinion) do the lay reader of The Times A GRAVE DISSERVICE. Readers of the The Times are often professional people, just not in the sciences.
For people like me THERE IS NOW A PROFESSIONAL DUTY to be able to communicate with the lay Public what the key issues are and how we can mitigate (ideally solve) them. Ms. Margolin has not (in my considered opinion) reached this level of understanding.
11
As long as fighting climate change is conflated with the sort of diluted Marxism presented in the Green New Deal and here, we will make no progress fighting climate change. The Progressive left has seized upon concern over climate change as an excuse to push through a raft of their favorite illiberal reforms which will never otherwise have majority support.
If fighting climate change requires government ownership of the healthcare system, guaranteed basic incomes, and tight centralized control over capitalism, we'll get none of the above. Which is truly harmful to the environment, because it doesn't need to be that way. Climate change should be a cause in itself, not a means to political power for the Progressive movement.
17
So let’s ignore root causes because they’re inconvenient and uncomfortable?
3
@Tom Meadowcroft
Ah yes. "Diluted marxism". It is well known that Capitalism and Nature walk hand in hand. So far so good.
2
@Tom Meadowcroft I eagerly await your counter-proposal to avert global annihilation. The only thing worse than a bad plan, is no plan.
2
I agree. But colonialism is a short hand for something much more fundemental. I can not even begin to describe it in a paragraph let alone a 5000 page treatise. And the weight of this gives me pause.
But nature is not waiting for my exposition. The trees, birds, bees, mountains, rivers and all manner of life- they are speaking. Listen, as they scream and in the throes of pain flee into distant memory. Begging us to remember from wence we came and to where we are going.
15
Thanks for your hard work and passion! I'm hoping you're organizing in Kentucky, Maine, Georgia, Texas, and other states where there are winnable Senate seats in 2020. I know I'm a cynical old guy, but I dont think Mitch and his Trumpettes give a northwoods hoot about anybody protesting in Seattle.
7
If we do not support the youth of the planet in a search for a better world, who will we support?
In a very few years, I will be molecularly redistributed to the planet from which I came. I will be unable to do anything then.
So I have just contributed some of my ill-gotten gains to Zero Hour.
27
@Douglas McNeill Thank you for your honesty with your comment that your gains were ill-gotten. In my opinion, any gains from Wall Street investments in oil and gas and agribusiness and McDonalds and airlines and so many other industries, were given at the expense of habitable life on our only home, earth.
2
I wish you nothing but the best Ms. Margolin, but you are muddling your message. The cause of climate change is C02 emissions, not "colonialism." While exploitation of resources and environmental abuses in poorer nations and communities may be a large part of the problem, the issue at hand is the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. By insisting on woke intersectionality, you alienate much of your audience and lessen the impact you might otherwise have.
46
@J I think you may be the one who is muddling the message! Associating colonialism with CO2 emissions as part of the cause and effect of Climate Change is pretty straight forward. It is strange to me how so many who respond here get their backs up if anyone implies that the status quo IS to blame, or that capitalistic and colonialist policies have denuded VAST tracts of Forests and Oceans, or disenfranchised, impoverished or murdered millions. The Age of Plunder must come to an end. We all should come to terms with our complacence.....heal ourselves and the Planet. Ms. Margolin has initiated action and engaged in one of our greatest assets; Free Speech. Anyone who is "alienated" by Her "insistence" lacks conviction that WE MUST ACT....NOW! So! Thank You Ms. Margolin!
1
This kind of article may make you feel good, but it’s actually not helpful. The climate crisis was not created by evil people (however much they may have helped it) and it’s not going to be fixed as a culture war.
We have a crisis of energy sources. We can’t keep burning stuff the keeps putting carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. So we have to find something else. That’s a big job, so we’d better get started. Going back to the Stone Age or any other romanticized prior existence is not an answer.
The climate crisis shouldn’t be partisan. Oil companies have done their best to make it one—a lifestyle issue, a culture war. We shouldn’t buy it.
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@Jerrryg
I consider that the fossil fuel industry, because it has been aware for half a century of the science behind the phenomenon of global, human-caused climate change, including it's inevitable effects, have committed not just crimes of fraud against their investors, but crimes against humanity.
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@Jerrryg Of course the people that got us hooked on fossil fuels were not intending to destroy the planet, but they were no altruists either. Ever hear the phrase "the banality of evil" or read anything by Hannah Arendt? She coined that phrase during the trial of Adolph Eichmann, but there were plenty of others like him who escaped by being recruited into the OSS. Their legacy lives on in the politics of today, as you will see shortly when we start bombing Iran. In a nutshell that maybe even you can understand: Oil is a integral necessity for the projection of military power. Before you make a bigger fool of yourself regarding "the climate crisis not being caused by evil people," you should take some time off and read "Oil, Power and War: A Dark History" by Matthieu Auzanneau.
"Colonization started the climate crisis."
Maybe the author could use extra time in school to study history, because she has it wrong. People of all kinds and stripes have always altered their environments, from natives in North America who burned forests to improve hunting to Europeans who over-farmed (many people consider this a factor in the fall of the Roman Empire). It's a human problem. And it was the industrial revolution, rather than colonialism itself, that sped up the environment-destroying practices people had been practicing for centuries.
You're not going to fix a problem by incorrectly labeling its root cause. The root cause is our natural greed, not colonialism.
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@Claire
One is simply the expression of the other. Wasting time with argumentative nit picking is human trait I wouldn't miss if it disappeared.
One of the root causes of colonialism and climate change is materialism. We humans are going to have to live simply, spend wisely and spend much less. That way we save a lot more than money.
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Dont procreate.
We could achieve a far greater reduction in pollution and make a far bigger impact on the environment by not having children than anything else. This is pure, simple, undisputed science. Over 99% of scientists beleive that less humans equals less human polution.
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Thank you Jamie! I'm on my way to the protest in Philly. Thank you for your work, your engagement, your optimism.
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European settlers did not invent destroying natural habitats, hunting species to death, or stealing and abusing natural resources. Humans settlers have been doing that on almost every continent since there have been humans--since long long before there were even Europeans--and it has almost always led to local natural resources crises (that's one of the primary reasons there are settlers, to leave a local natural resource crisis and find new resources).
Now the crisis is global, and it's about fossil fuels, and it's objectively solvable now, so let's solve the fossil-fuel thing (the whole humans-are-shortsighted-and-cruel-and-greedy thing will take more time). Strike On!
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@Brent Noorda
Many of the ops have aimed at fossil fuels which I am all in one but one thing was not talked about as much.
Understanding earth's ego-system. Please watch programs on the subject.
I am relieved to know the world will be in the hands of young people like this—thoughtful, intelligent, passionate. Well said!
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Jamie, I think you are on to something. I’m not sure “colonialism” is the word I would choose. There is something lurking behind (“enabling”) colonialism and that is the birth of corporate-ism. The Dutch East Indies Company (incorporated 1602) might have been the first multi-national corporation. The British East India company is another. It was the profits of these organizations that financed colonialism. For the first time in human history, a small group of people were able to acquire (legal premise: “Private Property”) land and resources in distant places and then use them to enrich themselves and their shareholders without any concern about the “externalities” that exploitation causes (such as slavery and stifled development). For example, CO2 emissions are an externality for which the fossil fuel industry has no legal obligation to mitigate.
It seems to me that you are getting close to the root of the problem. I offer my thoughts as an addendum to yours. Keep going...
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I would avoid social evolution as a reference point. By the same logic, I could argue climate change began with the conception of private property. The process by which something that was once unowned becomes owned. You're nonconsensually refusing the liberty of others to an object or an idea. You can't colonize anything without the idea of property first. When did property begin?
Some point to Locke. Others British Common Law. These are logical but incomplete answers. If we really want to split hairs, "property" is as old civilization. Wherever we find evidence of social stratification, we know some sense of ownership existed. Elite burial objections are a sign of unequal resource distribution. To "own" something is therefore older than writing and even agriculture.
I would stick to the industrial revolution as a touchstone. That's the point where scientific observation begins to reflect the anthropomorphic impact of technology on the natural world. That's as good a "beginning" as we're likely to find without referring all the way back to Genesis.
The rest of the essay is spot on though. I particular like how the author contextualizes the timeline we're working under. Later is not good enough. It takes at least 30 years to fully cycle through a technological evolution. If we don't start now, the future is bleak. Margolin's kids will be looking at elephants in a museum instead of a zoo. Those kids' kids will probably the last generation to experience a habitable world.
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An easier case is climate change started with agriculture about 10,000 years ago. All of humanity has engaged in agriculture. That doesn't make agriculture bad, it's just that we were more successful at it than was good for the planet. We have too many people -- not bad, just unintended consequences. Our solution is to work as one species -- humans -- together to address the mass extinction, not to blame "colonization." But, I will strike today with you.
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I have mixed feelings about protests, but they have their value, including attention-getting. As an "oldster," I'll be in the background of one today. One semi-related thing that isn't getting enough attention, and might relate to Jamie in the next few years, is ensuring she gets the best education when she goes off to college. Often "education" is used rather superficially, as in the often heard: "We have to educate the public (say) about recycling." That's not going to cut it. She might have to "mobilize" a bit there, too. Education needs to go deep. The special qualities of sustainability and learning need to be parts of it. These include: systems thinking; critical thinking; lifelong and perpetual learning and curiosity; real interdisciplinary thinking; double-loop and triple-loop learning; co-learning; the distinctions between knowing what we don’t know, not knowing what we don’t know, thinking we know but are actually wrong; humility; complexity; social entrepreneurship; opportunism; creativity and real innovation; personal resiliency; and working sustainability into every job category. The focus sometimes seen in courses on Projects and Activities, while more practical, risks losing some of these. You need both. One theme we need to get back to from the early days of both environmentalism and sustainability is interconnections. How about today, while protesting, take a few minutes to take it all in. How is it helping; how not? File it and teach you prof and classmates.
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Thank you for all that you are doing. Awareness is key. I think everyone wants a habitable planet. It make sense to target the colonial powers which worship greed. My daughters and I would also like to live beyond 2030. And not in a war zone with an authoritarian leader that tosses us crumbs.
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I am not about to defend European colonization, but it did not start the climate crisis. Read Jared Diamond's "Collapse," which describes environmental destruction in both ancient and modern civilizations.
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@Tim I read it years ago, and it convinced me that humans lack the self-control and foresight to avoid global disaster. Recall last year in France when the gov't tried to discourage gasoline consumption-> massive rioting. And as the global emergency grows autocrats like Trump & Xi will accelerate the depredation of our planet.
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Good on you, Jamie.
I'd like to point out, though, that few sentences show continued first world presumptiveness more than "my mascara was running".
Decolonization of necessity would involve a cessation of resource waste on industries such as cosmetics, or indeed any pursuit that has as its end only the promotion of psychological insecurity as a prelude to selling products nobody needs but that so many are made to want.
March in the rain proudly--without the make-up. You don't need it, and neither does anyone else on the planet.
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It’s hard to recognize that stopping climate change will require making genuinely massive changes to our entire society - dismantling white supremacy, colonialism, and runaway capitalism.
It’s (suspiciously) easy to blame an individual consumer for problems that are masterminded by giant companies and governments.
It’s even easier to give in to the impulse to tell a teenage girl what to do. I hope nobody striking today feels bad about wearing makeup if they want to!
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@Glenn Ribotsky
I think her remark was to normalize her views. Many people won't relate to her views until they relate to her. "My mascara was running" is reaching out to an audience that wouldn't necessarily consider the subject matter.
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My father is 91. 60 years ago I asked him why our town’s river was polluted...he said his father’s generation thought nature would always cleanse itself, that rivers flowed to the ocean where water is healed. Through great efforts the river has been mostly restored, but signs declare that fish still contain ‘heavy metal’ deposits and are unfit to eat—indefinitely. These lessons are not well taught nor understood—perhaps now they will.
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@daddy mom
I’m not as old as your dad, but when I was in school I was assured that the oceans would never become polluted - they were too big.
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"If we can agree that the root of climate change is colonialism, then the solution is to decolonize our society.."
Well done. Intersectionality comes to climate and environment.
Ms. Margolin, you can get things done or you can pontificate about colonialism.
My guess is that you will convince many more people if you drop the colonialism thing, which is not as simple as you describe it.
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@Joshua Schwartz "the colonialism thing" is "a thing" in that climate justice is about how certain people who have been under the thumb of certain other more powerful people have at times ended up suffering the effect of climate change through modern (industrial) history. Maybe the author would gain a few more supporters if eliminating colonialism -- but there are a lot of young people who understand that environmentalism is far more complex than some of us think. Those in power have devastated natural resources while at the same time devastating the people who survive with those resources.
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Thank you Jamie. I've been waiting for a movement like this since I was 17 - forty years ago. Count me in.
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