“Climate science should be less political, while climate policies should be more scientific.” This is stated in the letter “There Is No Climate Emergency” addressed to the Secretary-General of the United Nations Organization and signed by more than 500 scientists and experts in the field of climate research. The signatories of the letter asked him to organize a high-level meeting where not only climate activists, but also scientists could voice their opinion. “Audiatur et altera pars! – Let the other side be heard as well!”
As archaeological excavations and scientific studies show, the climate of our planet has never been homogeneous and constant. The authors of the letter point out that the previous cooling of the Earth, called the Little Ice Age, ended around the year 1850. Consequently, we are now experiencing another period of warming. However, “there is no statistical evidence that global warming is intensifying hurricanes, floods, droughts and suchlike natural disasters, or making them more frequent.” Moreover, according to the scientists, the process of warming is much slower than environmental activists claim.
At the same time, the scientists warn that the envisaged “CO2-mitigation measures are as damaging as they are costly. For instance, wind turbines kill birds and bats, and palm-oil plantations destroy the biodiversity of the rainforests.” Besides, the scientists emphasize that “CO2 is not a pollutant. It is essential to all life on Earth. Photosynthesis is a blessing.
More CO2 is beneficial for nature, greening the Earth: additional CO2 in the air has promoted growth in global plant biomass.
It is also good for agriculture, increasing the yields of crop worldwide.” They conclude by saying: “There is no climate emergency. Therefore, there is no cause for panic and alarm. We strongly oppose the harmful and unrealistic net-zero CO2 policy proposed for 2050. If better approaches emerge, and they certainly will, we have ample time to reflect and adapt. The aim of international policy should be to provide reliable and affordable energy at all times, and throughout the world.”
Actually, there are other much more urgent problems to be dealt with. Environmental pollution, for instance, where contaminants range from plastic to medicines and radio waves.
However, this topic is not convenient for corporations, the same as the fact that it is not the lack of resources that endangers the planet, but their reckless use and the constantly cultivated consumerism.
Apart from that, the schoolgirl Greta predicts the impending end of the world, and, contrary to scientists, she voices her vision at the United Nations General Assembly. How did she get to the rostrum scientists have no access to?
When Greta sat down outside the Swedish parliament in the morning of 20 August 2018, holding up a piece of cardboard with the slogan “Skolstrejk för klimatet” (“School strike for climate”), Ingmar Rentzhog, the founder of “We Don’t Have Time”, was supposedly passing by and “discovered” her. Rentzhog is said to have been inspired by the girl’s idea, so he published her photo on his private Facebook page. In the afternoon, Greta’s face and story could already be seen in the newspaper “Dagens Nyheter”.
The social network “We Don’t Have Time” was created in late 2017 to “hold leaders and companies accountable for climate change” by leveraging “the power of social media”. Its founder Ingmar Rentzhog is not an environmental activist. Both he and his partner David Olsson are experienced specialists in finance.
The first thing we can read, opening “We Don’t Have Time” page, is: “How to make 130 billion Euros in pension savings to work for the climate.” In May 2018, Rentzhog met Greta’s mother, who is not only an opera singer, but also an environmental activist. Soon he shared his “School strike for climate” idea with several teenagers, including Greta, who had taken part in a contest devoted to environmental issues. Greta was the only one who was ready to leave school.
Rentzhog’s project needed a new face, and he found it.
Now Greta has millions of followers who are ready to cut classes protesting about climate change. Unfortunately, they often leave mountains of trash behind them.
What is the essence of Greta’s message? “You have stolen my dreams and my childhood! How dare you?!” To put it in a nutshell, how can you, politicians and other adults, dare not to have solved all the problems? Because of you I have to live in the world where poverty, violence and wars have not been eradicated! How can it be that the lamb and the wolf do not drink water from the same bowl?
Greta has super-human abilities. In the book “Scenes from the Heart”, her mother writes that “Greta can see carbon oxide with the naked eye”. Greta knows exactly when the end of the world is due to come. In April, when meeting the British parliamentarians, she said: “It will happen in 10 years, 250 days and 10 hours”.
In the 17th century, there were the so-called Salem witch trials in the US. Based on supposedly super-human evidence given by teenage girls, 19 people were sentenced to death by hanging; one was stoned, and about 200 were arrested.
Salem witch trials were episodes of spontaneous mass hysteria. In the 20th century, however, totalitarian regimes deliberately exploited adolescents in their interests – the “young pioneer” Pavlik Morozov and the “Hóng Wèibīng” movement in China are the horrible evidence of this policy.
Greta does not hide the fact that she has been suffering from severe depression since childhood. At the age of eleven, she did not speak to anyone for a long time. It is nice, of course, that Greta speaks now, and she does it very actively indeed: “I don’t want you to be hopeful, I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day!” This was what she said at the World Economic Forum in Davos. The closest people can help a teenager suffering from depression and obsessive ideas maintain a balance. However, it is fear that suits the image of “angry girl” so well, and the “angry girl” is ideally suited to attract investors.
Greta has addressed the United Nations Organization twice. In January 2019, she attended the World Economic Forum in Davos; at the end of March, she addressed 25 thousand environmental activists at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. At the beginning of April, she raised a storm at the House of Commons in London. Soon after that, she made a speech at the European Parliament and attended a conference in Vienna held to accelerate the implementation of the agreement of Paris Climate Change Conference.
She has met Pope Francis and Jean-Claude Juncker. In Sweden, Greta has been awarded the title “Woman of the Year”, while the American “Time” magazine has named her as one of the 100 most influential people of 2019. Moreover, the organization “Amnesty International” gave the prestigious the Ambassador of Conscience Award to Greta in June. Many photos show Luisa-Marie Neubauer, a German political activist and an employee of Soros Foundation, beside Greta during all her trips.
At the beginning of this year, serious globalist organizations like the Club of Rome and the Global Marshall Plan, headed by the former US Vice-President Al Gore, a well-known climate change ideologue, also joined Greta’s publicity campaign.
Some deputies of the Swedish Riksdag representing the Left Party and the deputies of Norwegian Sorting representing the Socialist Left party, both uniting neo-Marxists, LGBT activists and radical feminists, nominated Greta as a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Green is the new red – this is how fashion bloggers would put it. Environmental protection is an extremely important issue. However, there is a subtle boundary the radical liberals are trying to tear down. The green globalism strives to attain centralized control. The green patriotism is rooted in the desire to promote the vitality of one’s nation and planet.
Therefore, my favourite is Boyan Slat. As a 16-year-old surfer he did not leave school and demand something from the government, but designed, built and patented a device to collect the plastic floating in the ocean.
My favourite is Vita Jaunzeme, who, having seen the polluted Šmerlis forest, took a pair of gloves and an empty sack. Having understood that she would not be able to cope alone, she inspired Latvian Olympic athletes, who inspired school children and university students in turn. This is how the project “Footprints” began, which has now transformed into the “Big Latvian Clean-up” campaign.
It fights with the cause rather than consequences. It is not climate change that is the root of the issue, but human greed, lust for power, short-sightedness, stupidity and laziness. Can we fight them with protest rallies? It is up to everyone to decide.
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Original publication: Vija Beinerte: Zaļš ir jauns sarkanais sarkanais jeb kas kopīgs Salemas raganām ar klimata hunveibiniem in Latvijas Avize (Latvia)