Read Greta Thunberg's full speech from the Vancouver climate rally
Credit to Author: Postmedia News| Date: Fri, 25 Oct 2019 23:15:08 +0000
Environmental activist Greta Thunberg was in Vancouver Friday, joining a demonstration organized by Sustainabiliteens, the Vancouver youth group that has been staging Fridays for Future rallies inspired by the Swedish teen.
Following a rally at the Vancouver Art Gallery and a march around the city’s downtown core, the 16-year-old took the microphone and delivered an impassioned speech about climate change, and the movement she is leading to force world leaders to act. Here are her full, transcribed remarks:
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Climate activist Greta Thunberg marches during a climate rally in Vancouver on Friday, Oct. 25, 2019.
Thank you so much for coming here today.
It is unbelievable how many you are. Police say about 15,000. It is an honour for me to be with you here today. Thank you.
I would like to begin by acknowledging that we are fortunate to be able to gather on the unceded territory of the Coast Salish people, particularly the unceded traditional territory of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh nations.
And we of course stand in solidarity with the brave young plaintiffs who are suing the Canadian government today.
It is always so hopeful to see this every Friday. This is a movement with millions upon millions of people, telling world leaders to act on the science and demanding a safe future for us and for everyone and together we will make a change.
I am honoured to stand next to Severn Cullis-Suzuki, who addressed world leaders in Rio de Janeiro, 1992.
27 years ago, at the age of 12, (Suzuki) said, “At school, even in kindergarten, you teach us how to behave in the world. You teach us not to fight with others, to work things out,t o respect others, to clean up our mess, not to hurt other creatures, to share, to not be greedy. Then why do you go out and do the things you tell us not to do?”
Also, I am fighting for my future. Losing my future is not like losing an election, or a few points on the stock market.
Severn told the world everything the world needed to know 27 years ago an the science told us, told our world leaders everything they needed to know 27 years ago.
If people would have listened back then, the world would be a completely different place than it is today. But the world ignored her, and world leaders continued to choose to look away from this crisis, even today. According to the Global Carbon Atlas, global CO2 emissions have increased by approximately 65 per cent from 1992 to 2018. Around 50 per cent of all CO2 emitted since 1751 have been emitted since 1992.
If world leaders would have started to take action back then, when this crisis became known to them, then imagine the sufferings that could have been prevented. It is shameful that for so long, the ongoing climate and ecological emergency has been ignored. It is the year 2019 and the people in power are still acting as if there was no tomorrow.
And we young people are telling them to stop doing that: to stop ignoring the consequences of their actions and inactions, to stop leaving their mess for someone else to clean up because we do not want to do it for them. The people in power need to start to realize what they are doing to future generations, to us, and especially to people in parts of the world who are already being affected and suffering from the climate and ecological crisis.
If the adults really loved us, they would at least do everything they possibly could to make sure that we have a safe future — a future to look forward to. But they are not doing that. As it is now, it feels like they are doing the exact opposite, that they are desperately trying to change the subject every time the climate crisis comes up.
That they are trying so hard to delay the actions required for preventing this crisis from getting worse. Because they are so afraid of being unpopular and to make uncomfortable decisions. It is like they are selling our future for their comfort and profit.
And yet they have the nerve to look us in the eyes and tell us that they are doing enough. Well, whatever they are doing, they’re doing it wrong.
We’re starting to see through their lies and we will hold them accountable for their actions. We will be a constant reminder that they are failing and that constant reminder is what we are today, and every Friday, every single day that goes by without sufficient action being taken and when the science is being ignored. Because we are not just some kids skipping school or some adults who are not going to work. We are a wave of change and together we are unstoppable.
We will rise to the challenge, hold those responsible for this crisis accountable and we will make world leaders act. We can, and we will.
And if you feel threatened by that then I have some very bad news for you: this is just the beginning. We will continue. Because change is coming, whether you like it or not.
Thank you.
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Also attending were Indigenous leaders and climate activists David Suzuki and his daughter Severn Cullis-Suzuki, who, like Thunberg, gave an impassioned speech to a group of leaders at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 when she was a child.
The court challenge Thunberg alludes to calls on Ottawa to stop conduct that violates their charter rights and to implement a plan that reduces Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions “in a manner consistent with what best available science indicates is needed for the federal government to protect young Canadians, do its fair share to stabilize the climate system, and avert the catastrophic consequences of climate change.”