"You are not doing enough"

Greta Thunberg

GRETA THUNBERG, born on January 3, 2003, suddenly burst into the scene last August 20, 2018, at 15 years old then and the fight to address climate change has taken on new vivacity. She took time off from school to singlehandedly demonstrate outside the Swedish Parliament because she told the politicians in her blunt way: “You are not doing enough.” Her action was caught by the social media. She protested by sitting outside the Riksdag (Swedish Parliament) every day for three weeks during school hours with the sign Skolstrejkförklimatet (school strike for the climate). She also handed out leaflets that stated: "I am doing this because you adults are shitting on my future." By December 2018, more than 20,000 students had held strikes in at least 270 cities all over the world. From that time on she has spoken to world parliamentarians and business people without sparing her words. She told the British parliament in London: "You lied to us. You gave us false hope. You told us that the future was something to look forward to.”

People are now talking of the Greta Thunberg Effect. The movement is snowballing. People are taking drastic steps. When your house is burning you cannot just standby and reason out. You have to act! And that is what people are doing now. Last September 20 the 2019 climate strikes, also known as the Global Week for Future, took place. It was a series of international strikes and protests to demand action to address climate change. The protests are taking place across 4500 locations in 150 countries. It is a continuing strike till September 27. More than 4 million people have participated in the said strikes. Adults are now joining the children in the Climate Strikes. These eventsare part of the school strike for climate movement, inspired by Thunberg.

In the Philippines a total of 17 strikes were registered. Filipino activists also marched in honor of those who were killed for defending the environment. It was reported in 2018 that the Philippines is the deadliest country for those defending the environment.

Strikes are good. This shows that people, even young children, are standing up. However, the governments and big companies are uncommitted. So climate advocacy should move up to the next level. Big companies who are the main polluters should be hit where it hurts them most. They guard most their name and their money. We therefore call for boycott of their products and divestment from the financial institutions that support them. 70% of investments on dirty fossil fuel are support by BDO, BPI and Metrobank. We ask these banks to fund renewable energy which are cheaper and cleaner rather than oil or coal powered plants. We ask Camella  and Ayala to stop converting farms and ancestral domain lands of Indigenous Peoples for their housing projects. We ask San Miguel Corporation to get out of dirty coal and the Kaliwa dam project. We call on DMCI to stop coal mining in Semirara island. If they do not listen we should initiate boycott calls of their products. It cannot be that business and government continue to reap profit while our common home is on fire!