the kids have had it with climate-change deniers

The chronic avoidance of the impending threat of global warming has always been a sort of support blanket in the wake of catastrophic doom. It was our crutch as a generation only really waking up to the severity of climate change but also our common paralysis.

But this next generation of kids have had it because they are growing up inundated with evidence that corporations and governments aren’t even gambling with the future of the planet — they’re cashing out the livelihoods of future generations for current margin profits.

On Friday the 15th of March, students in Cape Town, South Africa and 110 other countries marched against the changing climate and the lack of government intervention in climate change, according to the Daily Maverick. The protests were inspired by 16-year-old Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg, who started a debate online with her #FridayForFutures campaign where she would skip school on Fridays to go and protest outside her local government offices.

In South Africa, the protest is helmed by student climate activist, 17-year-old Ruby Sampson, who organized the Cape Town march under the Extinction Rebellion Moniker. Posters have invaded the walls of Parliaments across 110 countries, thanks to the online movement started by Thunberg. These kids are gifted organizers and they have a clear message: “Stop denying the world is dying.” Their demands also point to the heart of the problem, which is that “one hundred companies produce 71% of the world’s greenhouse gases.” Sampson told Daily Maverick. “Just 100. So going vegan and recycling is important, but what we need to do is hold governments and companies accountable.”

The kids know what is going on because they are directly invested, especially when attention is paid to the ramifications of climate change in their own backyards. “We thought after the drought and the water crisis and all the fires, South Africans would understand,” said Babalwe, a student and protestor. “But they didn’t, and politicians did nothing, and now we’re here.” Here is starting to feel a lot like the place-of-no-return so the panic is warranted, especially for a population that cannot vote but has to watch uncaring or unknowledgeable politicians use a legitimate environmental crisis to pander for votes.

You can get all the people responsible for the planet’s climate deterioration into a high school auditorium and still have room to spare. Why are we all sitting here and letting them decide the fates of billions of people? Because of what, money? That simply won’t do, so the collective will be handing over a list of demands to their respective leaders in the near future. Listen to the kids because, as they say, there is no Plan(et) B.