In 2019, millions of people flooded the streets in over 125 countries, united in our understanding that life and our natural world need to be saved from a human-enhanced catastrophe. One teenager in Sweden, Greta Thunberg, staged a school strike every Friday. Media coverage of her protest captured the imagination of people everywhere. Hundreds of thousands of young people around the world joined in, understanding that their future is on the line and that they had to take responsibility for what their future would be.
Politicians like Biden made big promises to halt the expansion of this insanity. He said, “no more drilling on federal lands, period.” But once elected it was business as usual, with the continued construction of pipelines and opening up new areas for exploitation. With an election looming, Biden recently backed off the massive Willow Project, which would have opened up a vast area of northern Alaska to oil extraction. What woke him up was the response – with some demonstrations, but mainly in social media and petitions.
That’s a start but the fight is not over. Changes in administrations or the courts can overturn this. No matter who is in office, we need to say loud and clear “No! to burning fossil fuels. The Earth is not the political ping pong ball of the banks and the oil companies.
We have to go further than we have gone before– not aiming to pressure those in power or trying to get favorable media coverage. Our aim should not just be to challenge power, but to take power out of the hands of the banks and corporations.
