Still in her teens, Greta Thunberg makes me sigh, in wonder, in awe. Plummeted to the global scenario owing to her meticulous protests outside the Swedish Parliament, she’s a small boat, making waves in the ocean. This contemporary child-prophet proves that little hypothesis of our philosophers, “A small match can burn a forest of a thousand trees.”
Apparently, it seems that she’s one of those stark examples of irony that they teach in class. Her 100 per cent zero carbon footprint yacht is ridiculed as a seemingly preposterous notion and is ridiculed by a percentage of the mass. While the fact remains that the crew had to be flown in and out multiple numbers of times to just drive the yacht, which creates an atmosphere of stark anomaly, when you listen to her speeches and voice — the concern is evident, real and from the bottom of the heart.
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She has not simply lent her voice to our concerns but has helped us kids muster the courage to call out people who aren’t sufficiently conscious about the environment. While our home decays and rots in the silence of the night and noise of the day, we stare and stare and do nothing about it. Greta’s coming to the spotlight has created a massive impact and is seeking to mobilise the world. While it will be immensely difficult to implore world leaders to give in to our demands, it sure has increased the consciousness of the mass.
While Greta can be represented as the conscience and hope of the world, we also have to take into account the tiny glitch that she, being a 16-year-old girl, is at a massive disadvantage for she understands very little of international politics (for the sole reason of not having been there, ever) and the influence rash slapdash decisions might have on the future of millions.
Going by the reports, banning roughly four billion flights every year until 2100 will lower the temperature of the world by 0.03 degree Celsius, that’s true. But who decides if the effect will compensate for the massive disruption to lifestyle as we know it?
A sudden coal ban, the production of which has a negative impact on the environment, will destroy the lives of millions of children, including me, in India and other third world countries. Will that be truly fair to us? The people who have no other option other than to rely on conventional means of production?
While Thunberg’s campaign is sufficiently awesome and passionate, she is in dire need of a detailed and precise plan of action. This will, according to me, not only appeal more to fussy leaders, but will also convince the masses to follow the lead.
