Fridays for Future. Join the hope

“We are distraught, indignant, terrified… We cannot believe it. We don't understand how it is possible to live as if nothing is happening after the warnings being issued to us by the UN and the IPCC, the highest scientific authority on climate change issues. We don’t understand how cathedrals can burn and the whole of society can be scandalized, and yet, we are 11 years away from burning alive and nobody reacts. We don’t understand how it is possible that after 27 years of world summits to try to solve the problem, emissions just keep rising. Isn't it incredible? Does anyone care about the youth? How is it possible that, having sons and daughters, you aren’t giving your all to ensure them a habitable planet?”

That is how the open letter that the representatives of Fridays For Future – Youth for Climate addressed to citizens and political leaders ahead of the elections began.

A letter that moved us and with which we are in profound agreement from beginning to end. Since this movement came to life, at Herbera we have felt that something is changing in the world; we have hope.

It is true that since last October, when the alarms went off once again, little has been done by institutions. At that time, UN experts urged for drastic measures to be taken against climate change. The United Nations advisory scientists warned Governments that an unprecedented transformation was needed to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees.

If almost nothing new has been done by governments, what is the reason for our hope?

We believe that, finally, an important part of civil society has awakened. We know that great changes always begin with great protests, with the pressure of people in the streets. That is how the fight against racism in the U.S. was fought, that is how we women and LGTBI groups won rights, and that is the only way we will manage to stop climate change and save our planet.

All over the world, environmental protests are growing; there is an unstoppable global movement traversing the streets of the major capitals. This is just the beginning, but perseverance and courage will lead us to success.

Last March 15 was a turning point due to the great international strike of thousands of young students who took to the streets in numerous cities around the world to demand urgent and effective measures against climate change from politicians, convened within the framework of the ‘Youth for Climate’ movement. In total, some 1,800 cities in a hundred countries took part in a day of strikes and protests under the motto ‘Fridays for Future’.

But like everything else, this movement was started by a single person taking a single step. The young Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, 15, embarked on her personal crusade against this environmental problem by demonstrating every Friday in front of her country's parliament, and later taking her protest to the United Nations during COP24, the Katowice conference, recording a message on social media explaining that “climate change is a very important issue and nobody is doing anything.” She called on teenagers from all over the world to join her cause: “you are never too insignificant to make a difference, and if only a few children are able to grab headlines all over the world just by not going to school, imagine what we could achieve if we really wanted to.” During the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Thunberg added: “I often hear adults say: ‘We need to give the next generation hope.’ But I don’t want your hope. I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day. And then I want you to act. I want you to act as if our house is on fire. Because it is.”

After this, every Friday, young people from all over the world protest and ensure that they will not stop until forceful measures are implemented.

That is why we believe we can say that there is hope. Let us support these young people who simply want to save all of our lives. #herberaseplanta #Fridaysforthefuture