Letter to the Editor: Children lead the way for a better future for the planet
Marching with the thousands of school children, including my own, on Friday was an uplifting experience.
It contrasted starkly with the feeling of deflation one typically gets when listening to the empty platitudes of politicians, at home and abroad, on the subject of climate change.
One of the most important messages in speeches at the Cork event was a call for all young eligible voters to register for the next general election and put their vote to good use in fighting for a just and swift change to a sustainable economy.
Naomi Klein in her latest book puts forward a compelling argument for a Green New Deal, and reflects on the reality that only a well-coordinated international mobilisation will steer us from a desolate future.
Our children recognise this urgency but unfortunately, our generation of political leaders were reared on the growth delusion and the economy of wants rather than needs.
They have watched over an insidious transition away from a thriving post-war global economy, grounded on a social dividend and publically driven, to a privatised one with rampant disposable consumerism at its core.
They have allowed politics to become beholden to international finance and corporate greed.
In little more than a generation, we have brought the planet to a state whereby its ability to sustain life going forward is in question.
This week in New York, world leaders are meeting at the UN, and are being urged to step up their efforts and present ambitious plans to meet the targets set out in the Paris Accord.
Let’s hope they heed the words of Greta Thunberg and act like their “house is on fire”.
In the meantime we should join our children and demand of our politicians a unity of purpose in this fight for their future.
