Friday, March 15, 2019

A Call for Scientists to Rally Behind the Youth Climate Strike



Scientific American magazine is urging scientists everywhere to come out in support of the youth climate strike.

We, the March for Science, an international community of scientists, science advocates, teachers, and parents, emphatically support the Global Youth Climate Strike.

We commit to doing whatever we can to lift up the voices of young people and encourage their leadership. Their generation will be greatly impacted by the effects of climate change. It is critical that their voices are heard.

They are striking because our world leaders have yet to acknowledge, prioritize, or properly address the climate crisis. They are striking because marginalized communities across the world—especially communities of color, disabled communities, and low-income communities— are already disproportionately impacted by climate change. They are striking because their futures are at stake.

Their actions are backed by the best available science which shows that we need to rapidly decarbonize our economy and deeply transform society in order to avoid the most catastrophic effects of climate change. They are treating the issue of climate change with the urgency that science and justice demand.

We ourselves, as a movement of science advocates, have taken to the streets in our millions over the last two years to fight for our communities and our planet. We offer everyone else who does the same our unreserved support and solidarity.

To adults—particularly political leaders—who are criticizing students for skipping school, please stand down. Our generations have failed to act. It is time to get behind the courageous actions of our young people.

Our youth have done their homework on climate change—it’s about time that our leaders behave like they have done theirs.
I'm pretty sure that Tory supporters will dismiss this out of hand as nonsense. I do, however, hope it makes some of you Liberals, especially the Justin Trudeau fan club, wince. The government, your government, is on the wrong side of this existential threat. By supporting the Liberal government, you've also chosen to put yourself on the wrong side of this. Don't compound that by being hypocritical enough to praise these kids at the same time. You're not on their side.

5 comments:

  1. Those who see Trudeau as the patron saint of all that is good and holy will not take him to task over his manifest betrayal of present and future generations, Mound. Like most other politicians, he and many of his followers are myopic, unable or unwilling to look beyond the next election cycle.

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  2. Yet they freely proclaim themselves "progressive" Lorne. They take for themselves the laurel and cheapen it into irrelevance.

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  3. Our public broadcaster devoted a whole 3 minutes on the National reporting the kids marches, and one small article on the web site. It's like censorship by omission. CTV didn't do much better. I turned to the Guardian and CNN for Pete's sake. Canadians are kept in the dark if they don't have time to search around for certain news. And there is no way for a citizen to contact the Board of Management of CBC to complain. It certainly doesn't invite input. Seems to me like all the Harper influence in the lower levels hasn't been completely rooted out. Thanks for this opportunity to complain - bitterly - because I have always supported the CBC every way I could. I comment as anonymous because I am too old to learn new tricks and I don't know how to do anything else.

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  4. Anon, my love affair with CBC ended shortly after I was hired as a TV reporter in the 70s. I really wanted to remain in radio, a far better medium, but TV was the big league. I'm not saying the competition was any better, they weren't. It's TV news in Canada that sucks. I haven't watched Canadian TV news in years, at least a couple of decades.

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  5. CBC Broadcasts from the BBC, DW Germany and PBS Boston and sometimes ABC Australia and Ireland after 1:00 am. I often listen when I can't sleep. I don't have a TV as I can't stand all the ads. The Library is a good place to spend time as well. There is a different view when compared to daytime CBC that is for sure. Anyong

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