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Advocating for Change

At one level, I knew what I was going to get when I recently read the article entitled, “Greta Thunberg on her gap year climate change tour, Joe Biden, and turning 18.”  I am sure there are folks out there who don’t know the name of Greta Thunberg.  I can imagine some of my friends asking, “Who does she play for?”  This simply means they spend too much of their lives on sports!  Thunberg is the remarkable young Swedish woman who is out to change our world---and I hope she succeeds.  Since I know about her, not much in the article surprised me.

And yet, every time I read about her, I am surprised.  I am surprised at the courage, clarity and commitment of this young woman.  I wonder what she did in her early life that prepared her for this role?  I wonder about her parents and what they did to encourage---or at least, not discourage her?  And I wonder about her, given her acknowledgment that she has Asperger’s, how she manages?  Some of my questions were answered, but I still wonder about many other things.

I was not surprised that she turned 18 years old.  She is a very mature 18.  She is reflective and this is what the article revealed.  Essentially, it is an interview by Marianne Dhenin, from Teen Vogue magazine (figures, right?).  I had to double-check to be sure Teen Vogue is a spinoff of the magazine, Vogue.  As its website suggests, it brings us “The latest on fashion, beauty, celebrity style, entertainment, teen issues, video and more…”

Greta has taken a year off---a gap year, as it is called in the educational world.  A gap year is a year off from school before heading on to the next step, in her case, college.  She had planned to travel the world taking her climate change protest all over to marshal the young people to become active in changing things.  But then the pandemic hit.  She found herself back on the couch in Stockholm, we are told.  The activism went online.  

Interestingly, Greta and others soon saw there was a link between the pandemic and the climate emergency.  As a result of pandemic life, which we all know, “climate scientists reported a steep drop in the planet-warming fossil fuel emissions.  The climate began to change for the better.  In crowded urban areas, people breathed better air.  Folks began to see stars and they were not even in Hollywood!  Other signs of the time underscored how serious we need to take the climate emergency.  

We also saw other remarkable things.  “…suddenly, governments were mobilizing to find solutions — uniting behind the science, as Greta would say — to develop treatments and vaccines.”  In a way the secret is out.  When we face a crisis, we can act in remarkable ways.  Greta and folks like that probably already knew this.  Now the rest of us should wake up and get with it.  As she notes, the pandemic “put the climate crisis in a different perspective.”  Most of us had too many lame excuses.  It really isn’t a crisis; in fact, some claim it is a hoax.  We don’t have the resources to change or, worse yet, we simply can’t afford to change our ways.  This probably only means we are lazy or greedy---maybe both!

However, we have seen how humans react to the crisis of the pandemic.  “But then, when the pandemic came, we saw a completely different crisis response, and that puts [the climate crisis] in a different perspective.  It really shows that we can treat an emergency like an emergency.”  I happen to think this is true. I am sure many will deny this.  Many others simply will forget, as we ease out of the pandemic.  But we all know that folks do amazing things when faced with emergencies.  We see it time and time again.  Now is the time for action.

Greta offers more insight as she reflects on the pandemic.  “That it is not until we really start treating a crisis like a crisis that we can get real change and start addressing that crisis.”  She rightly says, without science the pandemic would still rage on and be much worse.  Interestingly, she notes, “We are depending on science, both in the role of the solution and as an alarm — like a fire alarm or a warning.”  Science created a vaccine and I am deeply grateful.  I might survive Covid.  Greta wants us to learn our lesson.  “But it really shows that once we put support and resources, whether it is financial or something else, into science, then we can start seeing some results.”

We can argue this is not really spiritual stuff.  I beg to differ.  God created this lovely home of ours and wanted us to take care of it.  Adam and Eve messed up in paradise and we keep messing paradise up!  It is time to heal and quit hurting things.  My view of God is to see God as much in the creation and standing over creation.  God is in the midst of the created order, just as we are.  

Humans have an unfortunate perspective that pictures humans and the world.  There is human nature and the natural world.  This is not the way it is.  Humans are part of the natural world.  Everything in us is made up of cosmic dust.  Adam is dirt God scooped up and blew the spirit of life into Adam’s nostrils.  Nature is me; it is us.  We need to take better care of us.  It is self-care and God-care.  I want to see Greta as a divine prophet.

It is time for us to heed her prophetic call.  It is time to advocate for change.



https://www.ncronline.org/news/earthbeat/greta-thunberg-her-gap-year-climate-change-tour-joe-biden-and-turning-18

https://www.teenvogue.com/


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