Almost every nation on the planet has delegates at the Climate Change conference that is currently taking place in Katowice, Poland. They are all there in an attempt to tackle the biggest crises that our species has ever faced – climate change. One group, acting out of utter ignorance and stupidity, has turned up with a different goal – disruption and protest.
Here they are …
Now let’s make this wholly clear. The folks standing up, shouting “Keep it in the ground”, and stopping the session in its tracks are not the disrupters, they are the heroes of this story. The disrupters are the folks on the stage attempting to give a talk.
That’s the US delegation attempting to promote fossil fuel at the climate conference, they are the disrupters.
What the Frack is the US delegation doing?
Seriously, who turns up to climate change conference in order to promote the use of fossil fuels? It takes a very special kind of stupid to actually make a serious attempt to do that.
You might think that simply pulling the US, the second largest emitter of greenhouse gases, out of the entire process was rock bottom. Alas no, having hit that bedrock that more or less involved discarding the entire scientific consensus, they decided to keep digging to see just how much further down they could go.
These folks simply do not have any scientific basis to oppose tackling climate change. With each and every passing week the evidence continues to pile up and yet it is dismissed as “alarmist”. The US delegates promoting Fossil Fuel at the climate conference actually used the term “Alarmism”. The rather obvious truth is that if you are sitting in a packed theatre and somebody is yelling “Fire”, that’s not “alarmist” if the damn theatre is actually on fire.
As best as I can tell the only people who turned up for the talk were either protesters or press, nobody else was interested. Also of note is that other delegations were quite rightly pissed by this weird behaviour by the official US delegation. In fact “infuriated” is the term used.
The conference truly does matter. It has in its hands the future of the very existence of our species and really does not need the fossil fuel lobby turning up to muddy the water.
Those who are indeed welcome and are part of the process are the individuals and elected officials of cities and states within the US who represent the vast majority who do actually get it, unlike the current administration that is an incarnation of utter incompetence, corruption, and stupidity.
As for the kids who turned up and protested at the US delegation’s promotion of fossil fuel, they are the heroes of this story.
Voices of Protest
…The event called “U.S. innovative technologies spur economic dynamism”, touting the benefits of burning fossil fuels more efficiently, infuriated campaigners and many government delegations who want the talks to focus on moving away from coal, oil and gas.
Some 100 protesters in the audience at the event seized a microphone and interrupted opening remarks by Wells Griffith, the man President Donald Trump appointed as senior director for energy at the National Security Council.
They waved banners and chanted: “keep it in the ground”. …
… “I’m 19 years old and I’m pissed,” shouted Vic Barrett, a plaintiff in the “Juliana vs U.S.” lawsuit filed in 2015 by 21 young people against the government for allowing activities that harm the climate.
“I am currently suing my government for perpetuating the global climate change crisis … Young people are at the forefront of leading solutions to address the climate crises and we won’t back down.”
Tweets
It is worth reading the entire thread of the following tweet …
Here are a few more related tweets …