Responses to the Youth Strike For Climate

Yesterday was the first large-scale Youth Strike for Climate in the UK. Like many people, I have been deeply moved by what young people have been doing to raise awareness of climate change. What I have also been struck by is the shocking quality of some of the responses.

Here is the statement from Number Ten, the office of our Prime Minister.

So many things are wrong with this shabby response.

First the patronising and belittling of the issue: ‘while it was important for pupils to engage with important issues such as climate change’.

Climate change and associated ecological crises aren’t one of a number of important issues. They are the issue. Nothing else comes close.

It should be noted at this point that our current government supports fracking and its most recent budget included increased funding for roads, a freeze on fuel duty and a cut in incentives for people to switch to electric cars (and no positive climate-related moves of any other kind). So their claim that climate change is an important issue rings shockingly hollow.

The patronising approach continues: ‘Everyone wants young people to be engaged with the issues that affect them most.’ Do they? Really?

And now this subtle minimisation: ‘… so we can build a brighter future for all of us.’

The issue is not action for some cozy sounding ‘brighter future’. The issue is action for any kind of viable future, action to avoid utter mayhem.

And not ‘for all of us’.

We are not ‘all in this together’. The young are at a hideous disadvantage. It is their collective long-term future that we older people have been squandering by our shocking inaction and mismanagement.

After minimisation, some hypocritical distraction: ‘Disruption increases teachers’ workloads.’

These are, presumably, the same teachers whose workloads have been continuously increased by this government’s underfunding of our education system.

And how exactly does the disruption increase teachers’ workloads anyway? My bet is that it does the exact opposite. If the student body is more fired up then surely they’ll be more engaged and therefore easier and more enjoyable to teach.

Now the final slap down: ‘That time [in school] is crucial for young people, precisely so that they can develop into the top scientists, engineers and advocates we need to help tackle this problem.’

How reasonable this sounds.

Kids on strike, you’re so irresponsible. You should be at school studying so you can grow up to ‘tackle this problem’.

No. No. No.

The zip on my coat needs replacing. That’s a problem. This is not a ‘problem’. It’s a crisis. The crisis of our times. Arguably the greatest crisis our civilisation will ever face.

And it’s not on young people to solve it. Let’s not blame the victims. It’s on us. The older generation.

My children are twelve and fourteen. We have, according to the IPCC, twelve years. By that time my children will be 24 and 26 respectively. Dealing with the climate crisis in that timescale can’t possibly be on them.

Even if they accepted the mission to give up any other plans they might have for what they would like to do with their lives and devoted themselves to some relevant ecological discipline in order to ‘tackle this problem’, they would still not have finished their PhDs by the time those twelve years have elapsed.

Game over!

So, kids, go on protesting if you want to. Shout loudly if you feel we’re not responding. You are not responsible for ‘tackling this problem’. We are. Some of us are listening. Your actions are entirely appropriate.

And deep shame on those, like the authors of this statement, who minimise, distract, patronise and blame the victims in statements like this. May they quickly see the error of their ways.

We need to act together, and urgently, so our children can go back to school and get on with studying for the lives they choose to lead, in a world that’s fit to inhabit.