Originally Posted by
Mr1470
It's great that the issue is finally getting some proper media and political attention but I do worry slightly on two counts;
i)the deification of Greta Thunberg - we don't need icons in this situation, we need mass mobilisation on a scale not seen before. As we well know, the media and those in power like nothing better than to build someone up and then knock them way down again and I don't want them to have that opportunity to trash the whole movement in this way.
ii) I worry that the message being put across is that if we act within the next 12 years, then we'll be ok. We won't. Certainly if the majority of climate science is correct, that's the case. And I think people may pick up on the message that if we just do something now, we can go on living the lifestyles we currently have and all will be fine. If you believe the climate science, if you look at our depleting natural resources and if you look at our current lifestyles, then huge changes will need to be made to the way in which we live our lives - maybe not in our generation or even our children's but down the line. The sooner we start, the better and yet, in many areas, we're heading in completely the wrong direction.
In terms of the way that the media portray all of us, I also offer up as evidence the fact that, of all the reports I saw, every one of them showed and/or talked to Greta Thunberg and yet not one showed the representatives from the home countries, who were also present.
In the case of Holly, from Fort William, she's stood outside the school in town every Friday morning through all the weather that a Highland winter can throw at you. Initially there were just one or two but over the months, quite a few of us have gathered and additional side events have been organised and it is this grass roots mobilisation that will facilitate the change required, not the creating of environmental celebrities.