Greta Thunberg to Europe: treat the climate as a crisis
Environment — di Andrea Barolini
Greta Thunberg and other young activists, together with 150 scientists and numerous celebrities, have signed an open letter addressed to the European Union.
Greta Thunberg to Europe: treat the climate as a crisis
Greta Thunberg and other young activists, together with 150 scientists and numerous celebrities, have signed an open letter addressed to the European Union.
"We ask you to stop pretending to solve the climate and ecological emergency without treating it as a crisis." The Swedish activist Greta Thunberg – together with three other young environmental campaigners: German activist Luisa Neubauer and Belgian activists Anuna de Wever and Adelaide Charlier – has launched a new appeal addressed to the leaders of the European Union.
Greta Thunberg's demands: stop fossil fuels, caps on CO2 and protection for the most vulnerable
On Thursday 16 July, the four activists published an open letter online to the heads of state and government of the EU's 27 member states, accompanied by the hashtag #FaceTheClimateEmergency. The text calls for the implementation of a series of concrete measures — described as "first steps" to "avoid a disaster".
The petition calls for, among other things, the immediate halt of investment in the exploration and extraction of fossil fuels, the introduction of mandatory caps on greenhouse gas emissions, and the adoption of climate policies capable of protecting workers and the most vulnerable.
"Climate inaction is a capitulation"
It also calls for action to ensure that ecocide is recognised as a crime before the International Court of Justice in The Hague. As well as an economic change of course, allowing for a transition towards a system "completely at zero emissions, focused on the wellbeing of all individuals and the natural world". This would avoid the continuation of a lack of ambition on the part of European leaders — as the activists argue has been the case so far — which would amount to "a capitulation".
It’s time to #FaceTheClimateEmergency
This is our open letter and demands to global leaders, signed by thousands of activists, scientists, representatives of civil society influencers.
We’ll keep collecting signatures and urge everyone to sign & share
->ClimateEmergencyEU.org
This is our open letter and demands to global leaders, signed by thousands of activists, scientists, representatives of civil society influencers.
We’ll keep collecting signatures and urge everyone to sign & share
->ClimateEmergencyEU.org
Particularly at this time, since, according to the letter, the response to the coronavirus pandemic "has demonstrated that the climate crisis has never been treated as such, neither by politicians, nor by the media, nor by the business world, nor by the financial world". Furthermore, the document underlines the importance of taking social and racial issues into consideration: "Climate justice cannot be achieved if we continue to ignore other injustices."
The letter also signed by Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe and Coldplay
The young environmentalists' appeal was also signed by 150 scientists, including names of the calibre of Hans Joachim Schnellnhuber, Kevin Anderson and Michael Mann. As well as celebrities such as American actors Leonardo DiCaprio and Joaquin Phoenix, New Zealander Russell Crowe, Frenchwoman Juliette Binoche and the members of British band Coldplay.