Letter to the editor: Thoughts on Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg

To the editor:

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of hearing young Swedish climate activist, Greta Thunberg, speak at a climate strike rally in Iowa City. Here are a few of my takeaways.

First, I was impressed with the size of the rally, estimated to be between 3,000-4,000 people. Given the short notice of the event, that's a big crowd. Clearly, these numbers reflect the growing concern Iowans have about the climate crisis.

Second, it was heartening to see so many young people in attendance. Many were in junior high and high school, some were even grade school age. Many had homemade signs expressing their angst about the threat climate change poses for their future. 'There is no planet B,” 'Our world, our future, our choice,” and, my favorite, 'Make earth cool again,” with a drawing of our planet wearing sunglasses. With so many adults content with business as usual, the worldwide explosion of activism of passionate young people gives me hope that we will wake up and act before it's too late.

And then there was Ms. Thunberg, who had sailed across the Atlantic as a demonstration of her commitment to reducing her own carbon footprint. The first thing I noticed about her was how tiny she is, dwarfed in height even by her fellow high school students. Clearly her diminutive size is no measure of the greatness of her stature.

Not unlike her speech at the United Nations, Ms. Thunberg's message was simple, gracious, powerful, and direct. 'No matter what, we need to continue. No matter how hopeless the situation may seem like, we must always carry on. And we must never allow ourselves to give up. That is simply not an option ... We teenagers and children shouldn't have to take the responsibility, but, right now, the world leaders keep acting like children, and somebody needs to be the adult in the room ... We promise to go on striking, every Friday, for as long as it takes.”

Of course, there are those who criticize and belittle Greta, rather than coming to grips with the reality of climate change. I suppose, for them, this is easier than accepting that the climate crisis already is here and that humanity is the cause. After all, focusing on the increasingly destructive storms, floods, droughts, fires, and growing geo-political unrest the climate crisis already is causing – to mention nothing of the hundreds of billions of dollars in losses the world economy has sustained – would require them to roll up their sleeves and get to work. No doubt, Greta would call them out for putting their political ideologies and fear above the futures of their children and grandchildren, and all generations to come.

To them, I would repeat Greta's words. 'Change is coming, whether you like it or not.” But I also would add the sincere invitation to 'Please join us in demanding that our political leaders quickly take bold action.” After all, regardless of our political differences, climate change threatens everything all of us care about.

- Jonas Magram, Fairfield