Hundreds of thousands of young protesters on the streets. A Swedish teenager shaming the world's elders for failing to act on climate change. A two-way blizzard of contempt played out on the internet.
After the climate debate erupted this week, it appeared there was a gaping chasm opening between the generations, something probably not seen in Australia since the anti-Vietnam War movement of the late 1960s. But like so much in this highly charged debate, the reality is more nuanced.
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| Greta Thunberg: "If you choose to fail us, we will never forgive you." AP |
After travelling to the United States by boat rather than plane, to avoid carbon emissions, Greta Thunberg captured international headlines with her fiery speech at the United Nations climate summit in New York.
"How dare you!" she said. "You are failing us. But the young people are starting to understand your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us, I say: We will never forgive you."
It was a confrontational performance. And one which divided opinion among the older generation at which it was directed.
For some, the message was highly effective as Thunberg's admonition cut through. They applauded her bravery and efforts to combat inertia on climate change. Others questioned the students’ perceived idealism and naivety and mocked Thunberg online.
Some business executives were particularly critical of Thunberg's claim that “we are at the beginning of a mass extinction and all you can talk about is money and fairytales of endless economic growth".
Climate activist Greta Thunberg, in an emotional speech at the United Nations chided world leaders with the repeated phrase, "how dare you?"
Climate activist Greta Thunberg, in an emotional speech at the United Nations chided world leaders with the repeated phrase, "how dare you?"
Bernard Arnault, chairman and chief executive of luxury giant LVMH, reportedly told an event this week that although Thunberg was a "dynamic girl", this was "catastrophism". He said economic growth had lifted many out of poverty and should be pursued alongside solutions for climate change.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison's response was to warn against fuelling “needless anxiety” among Australian children, whereas Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes encouraged his employees to join the strike.
The idea that adults are destroying a world that their children will inhabit certainly cut through for Bernadette and Mark Lyden.
Adult responsibility
The Tamworth couple, whose 12-year-old daughter Lucy was instrumental in organising the School Strike 4 Climate in the rural northern NSW town last week, say the idea of a moral obligation to do more for their children is more compelling that any scientific and economic arguments.
“We’ve always pretty much had everything that we’ve ever wanted, and now, late in the day, we’ve realised our children are not going to have the same lives that we had – and that’s why things have changed for us,” says Mark.
The couple say they aren't "typical greenies" and hope that other "ordinary middle-class people who never really thought about these issues", like them, would join the cause.
Mark, a solicitor, says he was surprised when his clients began wanting him to write contract clauses that took long-term climatic conditions into account.
“That was the first thing that really shocked me about all of this, that people at a business level were starting to factor this into the way that they conducted their business,” he says.
Bernadette says their daughter, with no siblings her age, had been privy to “adult conversations” for a long time and took an interest in them.
"We’ve always been interested in topical politics and local issues as well. So she’s been exposed to a wide variety of issues," she says.
Discussions about climate change are sometimes playing out in vastly different realms
The debate over climate change has been highly political in Australia, with one of the biggest issues being the fate of the Adani coal mine in Queensland. At the May federal election, a backlash against the anti-Adani protests swung votes towards the Morrison government. Since then, Queensland's Labor state government has swung its support in favour of the coal industry and federal Labor is reviewing its emissions reduction target.
Where the Lydens might be having robust political discussions around the dinner table, an increasing challenge for civic discourse has been that discussions about climate change are sometimes playing out in vastly different realms.
When users on social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram interact with certain posts and topics, they are algorithmically served up similar content types. This mechanism has the capacity to drive people into different worlds where discussions about climate change are based on vastly divergent "facts" and assumptions about what is at stake.
For students, winning hearts and minds has meant speaking to people outside their echo chambers.
Politics and coal
School Strike 4 Climate national organiser Varsha Yajman, 17, says such engagement is crucial if they want to negotiate with politicians over their core demands: no new coal, oil and gas projects, including the Adani mine; 100 per cent renewable energy generation and exports by 2030; and funding towards a just transition and job creation for all fossil-fuel workers and communities.
They are tailoring their communications strategy to be as relevant as possible to each platform and target audience. Yajman, who has just finished year 12 at Gosford High School, says it is all about reaching older demographics, and a promotional video for the strike deliberately included more about the economic aspects of a transition.
She says the organisers rely heavily on Instagram to reach other teenagers, posting everything from shots of the previous strike in March, with engaging captions, to short moving videos known as “boomerangs”. The organisers also used TikTok, a video-sharing platform popular with younger teenagers.
"With Instagram it was more about having that bit of colour pop, or making it like a social event, where everyone is fighting for something that they are passionate about. On Facebook, our content was a bit more specific about the cause, and about speaking to adults to get them to understand," Yajman says.
She has seen both a push and pull this week when it comes to attracting older generations to her cause.
"I think that there were 350,000 people who showed up across Australia [last week] shows that different generations are starting to come together, but at the same time, Scott Morrison didn't even go to the climate summit at the UN. So there is that divide," Yajman says.
She cites a positive and instructive meeting with NSW Energy and Environment Minister Matt Kean, who listened to the students and then talked through some practical considerations about tranferring to renewables. In contrast, former NSW Liberal leader Peter Collins went on ABC’s The Drum to lambast the young climate change activists over how coal will be replaced as an export commodity or energy source in Australia.
Immediately after Thunberg's widely broadcast “How dare you", in which the 16-year-old challenged world leaders on their inaction around climate, Queensland politician George Christensen attracted widespread criticism for changing his Facebook page’s cover photo to a picture of the teenager with a red cross over her mouth, declaring his social media page a “Greta Free Zone”.
But whether you agree or disagree, Thunberg has become the face of a movement of young people protesting against inaction on climate change. They have put an issue of global political, economic and ecological importance firmly back on the agenda.
Links
- Morrison Warns Against 'Needless Anxiety' After Thunberg Climate Speech
- Greta Thunberg Condemns World Leaders In Emotional Speech At UN
- Greta Thunberg To Congress: ‘You’re Not Trying Hard Enough. Sorry’
- Climate Activist Greta Thunberg On The Power Of A Movement
- Greta Thunberg Sets Sail For New York On Zero-Carbon Yacht
- World Leaders Must Prove They've Listened To Climate Activists: Thunberg
- 'Time To Rebel': Greta Thunberg Adds Voice To New Song By The 1975
- Teen Climate Activist Greta Thunberg Wins France's First Freedom Prize
- Greta Thunberg: ‘They See Us As A Threat Because We’re Having An Impact’
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