Students around the world skip class to demand action on climate

[Aeula]

My family needs our cars and electricity for work and university. Not giving them up so I can risk getting stabbed on the bus.

Though I’d have happily had a day off school so others can go protest back in the day.

[Magnagarde]

Yeah, lets just ignore all the times that protesting/striking did work.

Unhinged optimism is one of the ecstatic upsides of being a student.

Their impact and relevance to the matter is close to zero as they still do not play any significant role in society. They are still studying to get there.

[Mic_128]

Politician's have super powers that can magically change the climate?

Magically? No. Legislatively? Yes. Case in point: The current Federal Government has a deal going to start up a brand new coal mine. The government is also currently looking at creating more coal-fire power plants. Instead they could be looking at the renewable sector, getting things like solar and wind with much more effecient storage methods. Instead the government is sadly too much in the pocket of the mining industry.

This is a case where the government could make a significant, positive change.

Nearly all the growth in green house gasses are coming from the developing world (China, India, etc).

Can you back up this claim with evidence? In 2015, China was at the top, but the US was second, followed by India, Russia, Japan and Germany. (Source)

What students can do is keep going to school to develop the next generation of environmentally friendly technology and energy.

More scientists and engineers--less activists, please.

Scientists are urging us to act now, as we only have about two years before we cross that point of no return. Telling students to finish their schooling and go through university as some sort of solution is stupid. That limit will get crossed before many of these graduate high school.

And even then, they can still be a scientist, but governments aren't listening to the scientists now!

[Kumorii]

Or maybe try to understand that these kids have no power which is why they are fucking protesting, how dense are you?

what? I've already agreed with that statement of yours and i've even called it obvious. What the hell are you smoking?

[Burgerberg]

This is hilarious.

Children who don't know shit about anything really, protest and disrupt businesses and traffic - want to tackle climate change? Force China and India to clean up their act, go study science and help in the quest to get fusion energy, more efficient solar panels, etc. Yelling to the president/prime minister isn't going to do a damn thing. Go back to school!

[Daedius]

I live in the countryside, I don't have the luxury of not affording being able to drive to work...

Not like I would expect kids getting driven/bussed to school would understand...

[Mic_128]

This is hilarious.

Children who don't know shit about anything really, protest and disrupt businesses and traffic - want to tackle climate change? Force China and India to clean up their act, go study science and help in the quest to get fusion energy, more efficient solar panels, etc. Yelling to the president/prime minister isn't going to do a damn thing. Go back to school!

I honestly thought you were quoting a Trump tweet.

[Acidbaron]

Its actually gone beyond a joke now, I dont think the health of this forums going to last much longer, a lot of people have already left, and moderation must have been reduced because theres some downright vile shit on this forum thats been allowed to continue.

Not going to comment on moderation because there's a mod that likes to target certain people. What is another reason i suppose some stay away.

Simply look at the alt right thread there are over a hundred people who don't believe neo-nazism is a violent ideology.

[Vatrilian]

The earths temp has gone down for the last 4 years and have record cold all over the world. People still buy into this garbage?

[Pooti]

They should protest by refusing to use smart phones made in horribly polluting factories in China, one of the worlds most polluting countries.

Seriously though, education and new cleaner technology is the best way to fight climate change IMO. These things would both require those kids to be in school actually doing something themselves!

[Burgerberg]

I honestly thought you were quoting a Trump tweet.

No because what I said actually makes sense.

If the biggest polluters in the world don't clean up their act, then a handful of protests in several first-world countries by children who don't even have jobs or an education isn't going to solve anything.

[JohnBrown1917]

I live in the countryside, I don't have the luxury of not affording being able to drive to work...

Not like I would expect kids getting driven/bussed to school would understand...

Its like you don't even understand what the biggest problems are and what they are protesting. And for the protests in the netherlands.. yeah.. most dont take the bus or get driven to school.

[Khelek]

China invests more than the US or the EU in green energy. Developing nations are actually doing less damage then we used to do while developing.

Simply pointing fingers and saying others should change first while also hoping that we should be the first to bring change through engineers and what not is dumb. Science can't fix anything magically, look at the amount of retards still denying climate change. You need a social platform people can work from so that changes can be eased into, since we will have to make changes to our consumption, regardless if it comes to how much energy we use or how much meat we eat or in general what we eat, how we use our limited drinkable water supplies, since there's a major shortage of that.

So no science won't magically fix it. It goes far beyond simply green house gasses. You simply hope someone else will fix the problem and it doesn't effect you at all that's why you point to science and to other nations. Ignorance is bliss i suppose.

China is currently suffocating on their own smog the way the west was during the industrial revolution. If they don't do something, they will have serious health issues along with the environmental ones. In fact, about 30% of the particulates in the San Francisco area come from coal power plants in China. It isn't surprising that China is spending gobs trying to save their cities. If your house is on fire you'll spend a great deal for fire extinguishers, but if your house in not on fire and only at risk you will simply maintain your existing extinguishers and replace them with better ones as necessary.

Activist, like these students, are pushing for environmental regulations that will kill the very thing that breeds environmental protection--Wealth. Environmentalism comes from wealth. Poor and developing countries do not have the resources or will to fight these issues. Not starving or choking to death on smog are greater priorities for them. At present, the Western world has the wealth to develop these new environmentally friendly technologies and is doing so (hell we've had nuclear for decades, but the environmental lobby killed that already). Killing their economies with bullshit like the green new deal will create the exact opposite of the change we all wish to see.

The only solution to climate change comes from the west not destroying their economies and using their wealth to develop economically viable green energy that can be exported to the developing world. That does not come from political activists.

[Ozyorkbourne]

Pretty much this.

"OMG guys we need to do something about climate change before its too late!"

*proceeds to change absolutely nothing about their own lives, buying a new iPhone every year, driving their SUVs everywhere, living in huge energy inefficient properties, eating meat, etc.*

The one who started it keeps getting interviewed and commended by said interviewers. I'd like one of them to ask her what specifically she wants each specific country to do, what policies she wants them to enact and why.

[JohnBrown1917]

The one who started it keeps getting interviewed and commended by said interviewers. I'd like one of them to ask her what specifically she wants each specific country to do, what policies she wants them to enact and why.

Or maybe just leave that to the experts? Or what, you think kids are experts who can give detialed solutions?

[Acidbaron]

China is currently suffocating on their own smog the way the west was during the industrial revolution. If they don't do something, they will have serious health issues along with the environmental ones. In fact, about 30% of the particulates in the San Francisco area come from coal power plants in China. It isn't surprising that China is spending gobs trying to save their cities. If your house is on fire you'll spend a great deal for fire extinguishers, but if your house in not on fire and only at risk you will simply maintain your existing extinguishers and replace them with better ones as necessary.

Activist, like these students, are pushing for environmental regulations that will kill the very thing that breeds environmental protection--Wealth. Environmentalism comes from wealth. Poor and developing countries do not have the resources or will to fight these issues. Not starving or choking to death on smog are greater priorities for them. At present, the Western world has the wealth to develop these new environmentally friendly technologies and is doing so (hell we've had nuclear for decades, but the environmental lobby killed that already). Killing their economies with bullshit like the green new deal will create the exact opposite of the change we all wish to see.

The only solution to climate change comes from the west not destroying their economies and using their wealth to develop economically viable green energy that can be exported to the developing world. That does not come from political activists.

Beyond that China is investing a lot, your reasoning was we shouldn't do anything because others need to do more, how much more exactly? When is it going to be enough?

Bullshit, absolute bullshit. The green energy sector is on the rise while all the rest including nuclear power plants are on its way out they are financially unstable. There is also a difference between regulations that work gradually and instant change. Poor nations indeed don't have these funds why its important to aid them.

It helps when you stop thinking in extremes, in all or nothing. You'll end with less fear of change.

[Sinyc]

They are doing this because they want too, they have their own wills, you know?

They are doing it because their teacher told them to. They don't actually understand any of it.

[AkundaMrdal]

Here's something we could do right now that would have a huge impact on climate change, drive our cars, buses, trucks on alternate days.

If you're license ends in an even number, you drive on even days, don't drive on odd days. If it ends in a odd number, you drive on odd days. Car pooling is fine and is expected.

Would you accept and follow such a program?

How about the power company turns the electricity off for 4 hours a day? Like from 5pm to 9pm?

How invested are you personally in fighting climate change?

I would take every opportunity to skip a class, even to protest something I don't give a fuck about, which is why I never take protesting students seriously.

And no, I will drive whenever I want, and ride a bike without any destination just for fun.
If power company turn of my electricity I would instantly change it to another one.

[Burgerberg]

Or maybe try to understand that these kids have no power which is why they are fucking protesting, how dense are you?

Of course they don't. There's a reason why we don't allow kids to drink, or vote: they're kids. Uneducated, naive, ignorant. I wouldn't want kids to wield any sort of power that's actually important unless they were, like, a brilliant child prodigy. Whereas in reality most of these children don't know squat about the geopolitical influences that have prevented much progress from happening. Instead of devoting themselves to change, they will come back home in a fossil fuelled method of transport, using social media apps on their environmentally damaging smartphones, causing their parents to pull their hair out when the phone bill comes, etc.

Listening to a bunch of teenagers who don't know shit about most things is folly. So don't pretend they're in any way credible.

[Ozyorkbourne]

Its like you don't even understand what the biggest problems are and what they are protesting. And for the protests in the netherlands.. yeah.. most dont take the bus or get driven to school.

Everyone fucking understands climate change is a thing and a problem. People are calling out these kids for protesting so vaguely, demanding 'change' but absolutely no actual objectives, specific changes they want enacted. And if they have them, I can't find them and the media aren't reporting them.

Are they just about emissions? What's their stance on plastic pollution that combined with overfishing threatens to decimate fish stocks the world over? What's their alternative 'change' to our petroleum intensive agriculture, which is partially responsible for the destruction of insect populations and ecosystems? Are they just about mitigation, or are they promoting adaption to the inevitable changes that we've already incurred? Where do they want these adaptions, is it just flood defenses? What about depopulating floodplains to increase through-flow and flood lag time?

That's the complaint. They haven't even finished their highschool science and geography classes and are yelling vaguely about change, but contribute nothing to making a change.