Recently hundreds of climate protesters were arrested at the US Capital, targeting Representatives beholden to fossil fuel corporations. They demanded that the President and Congress act boldly against the climate crisis. Elsewhere indigenous peoples protest oil pipelines crossing their lands. Around the world climate activists continue the climate protests sparked in 2019 by a global wave of school strikes led by young people, reminding us that we are failing them by our inaction. Greta Thunberg was their defiant voice.
The film “Climate Revolution” documents that global challenge by youth and the response of the older generation. It focuses specifically on a day of climate action in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Filmmaker Atahualpa Caldera Sosa will tell how Mexicans and ex-pats of all ages marched and rallied, responding to Greta’s call. They carried signs “There is no planet B” and “The fierce urgency of now.” Across the globe on that day millions also listened and awakened to the peril.
But governments and world leaders still are not responding on a scale and with an urgency that suits the threat. This week climate activists will be watching closely as world leaders gather in Glasgow for COP26. Will they go beyond the unfulfilled promises of the last UN Climate Conference in Madrid two years ago? Since then the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has issued a blistering report about the dire threat humanity faces, reflecting the sense of grave urgency of the world’s climate scientists. They have heard Greta’s voice. Will our leaders heed it this time? They will need to hear the people’s voice loud and forceful.