Climate activist Jamie Minden wrote an Op-Ed for the publication SanJoseInside Sept 18, 2019 which is linked here. Jamie is a local high school student, is an active member of the Sunrise Movement and was co-lead of the Silicon Valley Youth Climate Strike that occurred Sept 20, 2019. Following these links is the full text of her editorial.

GoTo SanJoseInside

Here is a link to a news bulletin by ABC News about the topic.

GoTo ABC News

“Hi, I’m Jamie Minden. I’ve been an environmental activist for a few years now, and it’s worked out pretty well for me. But most people who want to get involved (because they don’t want to live on a dying planet) have trouble knowing where to start in activism.

“I understand that the idea can be daunting. But rest assured: you don’t have to drop out of school, give up your job, stop wearing shoes or move to San Francisco to become a climate activist. You can if you want, of course, but you don’t have to.

“There are plenty of easy things you can do that can work around your schedule. Look up groups like Sunrise Movement, Youth Climate Strikes, 350.org, and Citizens Climate Lobby, and if there isn’t a group in your area, find a few friends and start one.

“If you’re not all that into community organizing, how about changing your lived environment into something more sustainable? Replace your gas-burning water heater with an electric one. Explain to your cousin that climate change doesn’t mean the end of snowstorms, it means that the global temperatures are rising at a pace that will eventually make many parts of the Earth uninhabitable.

“What about your workplace? Are there ways for you to steer your company in a more sustainable direction? Forbes predicts that the United States’ renewable energy business is worth $3 trillion. Why not cash in on a more sustainable future?

“The reality is that grassroots movements have been the cause of virtually all progress on the issue. Pardon my French, but most national governments haven’t done sh*t. So every bit of climate action you see—from recycling collection to the Green New Deal—is the direct result of the tireless work of scores of passionate climate activists. Just normal people like you and me who want to make a difference.

“To backtrack slightly, I want to recognize that communities of color have been shunted aside in all of this, too. People of color are disproportionately affected by ecological issues, and yet they have always been the unrecognized leaders of this fight.

“People of color defend endangered species from poachers, risk their lives to protect the rainforests, and are arrested in our very own country for protesting developments that threaten to destroy sacred landmarks.

“If you’re a person of color who wants to get involved in the climate movement, I want you to know that we hear you. Yeah, you might have to work a little harder to make your voice heard. I’m not going to sugar-coat it: this country has a history of environmental racism and a dishearteningly whitewashed climate movement. But that’s simply why your voice is more important than ever.

“Yeah, I’m a white girl, but I stand behind you. Groups like Sunrise and people like Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stand behind you. Your voice is important. You deserve to be heard. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

“We only have 11 years left, so let’s make them count. Let’s give it our all, and put up a good fight. Because once our emissions go past the tipping point, we cannot go back. Our chance is now. Every living person has a responsibility to do their part, no matter how small. Climate change will be the struggle that defines every generation alive today.

“While the “greatest generation” had to stand up and fight two world wars head on, we now have no choice but to play the cards we’ve been dealt, and fight for our futures. Look at this from a patriotic standpoint, and do your part for our country. Do your part for our world. I want you to join the climate protection movement.

“We hope to see you at our next strike at 2:45pm Friday as we fight for our future. Please visit svyouthclimatestrike.org for more information.”

Climate activist Greta Thunberg addressed the U.N.’s Climate Action Summit in New York City on September 23, 2019. Here’s a YouTube of the speech, followed by the full transcript.

“My message is that we’ll be watching you.

“This is all wrong. I shouldn’t be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you!

“You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I’m one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!

“For more than 30 years, the science has been crystal clear. How dare you continue to look away and come here saying that you’re doing enough, when the politics and solutions needed are still nowhere in sight.

“You say you hear us and that you understand the urgency. But no matter how sad and angry I am, I do not want to believe that. Because if you really understood the situation and still kept on failing to act, then you would be evil. And that I refuse to believe.

“The popular idea of cutting our emissions in half in 10 years only gives us a 50% chance of staying below 1.5 degrees [Celsius], and the risk of setting off irreversible chain reactions beyond human control.

“Fifty percent may be acceptable to you. But those numbers do not include tipping points, most feedback loops, additional warming hidden by toxic air pollution or the aspects of equity and climate justice. They also rely on my generation sucking hundreds of billions of tons of your CO2 out of the air with technologies that barely exist.
“So a 50% risk is simply not acceptable to us — we who have to live with the consequences.

“To have a 67% chance of staying below a 1.5 degrees global temperature rise – the best odds given by the [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] – the world had 420 gigatons of CO2 left to emit back on Jan. 1st, 2018. Today that figure is already down to less than 350 gigatons.

“How dare you pretend that this can be solved with just ‘business as usual’ and some technical solutions? With today’s emissions levels, that remaining CO2 budget will be entirely gone within less than 8 1/2 years.

“There will not be any solutions or plans presented in line with these figures here today, because these numbers are too uncomfortable. And you are still not mature enough to tell it like it is.

“You are failing us. But the young people are starting to understand your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us, I say: We will never forgive you.

“We will not let you get away with this. Right here, right now is where we draw the line. The world is waking up. And change is coming, whether you like it or not.

“Thank you.”

If you ever think your one vote doesn’t matter, think again. This is GretaThunberg aged 15, sitting alone outside the Swedish Parliament Aug 2018 – the first school strike. In just one year, she’s created a wave that will change the whole world.

Iceland placed a plaque on a boulder dropped by the once huge Okjokull glacier with a plaque that warns action is needed to prevent climate change.

Greta Thunberg’s speeches have been collected and published by Penguin into a small book available at Amazon in the USA for $8. This is a very important book, in the “must read” category. All profits from the sales are going to charity.

Buy it, read it and then join her team. She needs and wants our help in solving this crisis.

“She is an incredibly clear-eyed child, speaking to adults … This is an invitation to get up and join in. There is hope in these pages, not just doom and gloom.”