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Greta Thunberg says world leaders show ‘they do not care about the future’

During a virtual press conference about a global climate strike on Sept. 24, environmental activist Greta Thunberg said the inaction of world leaders on climate change demonstrates “they do not care about the future — at least it doesn’t seem like it.”

Video transcript

GRETA THUNBERG: Hello. My name is Greta Thunberg. I am a climate activist based in Stockholm, in Sweden. And I'm a part of the Fridays for Future movement as we are here today. And yeah, on Friday the 24th of September, we are going to have our next big global strike.

And it has been a very, very strange year and a half with this pandemic. But of course, the climate crisis has not disappeared. It's the opposite. It's even more urgent now than it was before. And we will go back on the streets now. Of course, it will look different. In some countries, there will be more people. In some countries, like Sweden, we will have smaller symbolic actions. But we will still be back on the streets to show that we have not disappeared. And we are still demanding climate action and climate justice.

And for this strike, our hashtag is #UprootTheSystem, which symbolizes the fact that this climate crisis is not a solitary crisis. It does not exist in a vacuum. The climate crisis is caused by the same thing that is also fueling other crises and inequality around the world and the ecological crisis.

And we cannot just solve one of these crises without also addressing the others. That's why we are striking now to call for uprooting the system. And we are focusing extra on intersectionality and giving voice to the most affected people in the most affected areas.

And some might think that we are moving in the right way right now. But it is actually the opposite. After the pandemic, only 2% of government spendings have been allocated to clean energy. 2021 is currently projected to experience the second highest rise in emissions ever. And a recent report by the UN says that right now it is projected that by 2030, our emissions will have risen by 16% compared to 2010 levels.

And time and time again, the leaders today show that they do not care about the future. At least it doesn't seem like it. Their actions don't reflect it. They say that they listen to us young people. But they are obviously not. They have proven that now again.

And that's why we will be back on the streets. And we hope that as many as possible in, of course, taking into account the local circumstances when it comes to COVID. But we hope that people will now go back on the streets and that we will be calling for climate action because we have not disappeared.