It isn't a
coincidence that scepticism about climate change tends to be the
preserve of the nationalist right. You rarely see left-wing
socialists tweet that climate change is a Chinese hoax. When there is
no national answer, but only a global answer to the problem of global
warming, some nationalist politicians prefer to believe the problem
doesn't exist. (Yuval Noah Harari)
I'm not really a patriotic
person myself, never have been, don't know why. I don't mind if
others are – as long as a little bit of patriotism doesn't turn
into full blown nationalism, with made-up countries becoming more
important than everybody's planet.
I also find it quite
annoying and sad when people become so obsessed with their national
identity they end up insulting everyone who threatens their view of
the world. Everything should stay as it is: borders, religion,
language, food and cheap flights. Ironically, those who stand behind
conservative values are the ones who keep attacking a sixteen-year
old girl from Sweden because she's fighting for the conservation of
the Earth.
Greta Thunberg is one day
younger than my own daughter. When I read some of the comments about
her, the jokes about her illness, the mockery about her angry face,
the hateful rants – honestly, I'm lost for words. A teenager who
cares for the world and all living beings, who understands that we're
destroying our home – I mean, how fucked-up must you be to ridicule
her? Manipulated by the Elite? We are all manipulated by the Elite,
every day! What matters is that there's someone who loves life enough
to defend it.
I was recently at
the COP25, the climate summit in Madrid. There were over 500,000
people marching during the main demonstration – many of them were
there because, only one year ago, Greta decided to do something about
the climate emergency. One fifteen-year-old girl with a sign. If you
can't see the beauty and the power in this story, and the hope
within, then try harder. Because it's all there.
I walked amongst friends
and those 500,000 people, and one day later we joined Extinction
Rebellion who had blocked the Gran Vía, one of the main shopping
streets in Madrid, in an act of disco disobedience. Combining climate
action with a celebration of life.
I always promote and
work on personal change – keeping money in an ethical bank, buying
more local and organic products, less meat, less flights, etc. And
while this is super important, political activism is needed too. If
we don't demand change, hardly anything will happen. Hence, it's
vital that more and more people join the different movements
campaigning for climate justice. If not now – when? If not you –
who?
The recent experience in
Madrid has also shown me how much fun activism can be, how it
connects you to others, making you feel less alone in all this mess
we've created. Being surrounded by people who believe in solutions,
who complain less and act more, has a deeply healing effect. To me,
it felt like a big injection of hope!
Here's a video of our
trip, including the demonstration and disco disobedience:
