Because you can’t buy time
20th September will mark the day when millions across the globe will walk out of their workplaces and homes to join young climate activists on streets and demand climate justice for all and an end to the age of fossil fuels . 4685 events are planned to be held in 142 countries on all continents
The rate at which the atmosphere of this planet is changing is bleak. Sea levels are rising, glaciers are melting rapidly, forests are burning, cities are drowning in floods and heat waves are getting more and more frequent and intense,
The irony of Climate change is that those who have caused the least pollution are bearing the brunt of the suffering, whereas those who have the veto to implement such transitions are brushing aside meaningful solutions in the form of switching from fossil fuels to more renewable energy sources to tackle the climate crisis.
Climate change is the environmental challenge of this generation and it is imperative that we act before it’s too late. Our house is on fire so lets act accordingly.
Dr. Mehreen Mujtaba
In 2018, when Greta Thunberg, a 15 year old Swedish environmental activist challenged the politicians for their lack of action on climate crisis, the world saw a shift in the corridors of power, where aged politicians and policy makers sat up straight in their chairs to listen to this young girl who urged them “to wake up and face the facts.” Her solo protest caught the world’s attention and started spreading from one school to the next and by March 15th of the same year, 1.4 million students fro across the world took to the streets sounding an alarm for the climate change emergency. The youth activists decided to declare “Fridays for Future” to reiterate the fact that climate crisis is an emergency and they needed everyone to join them in sounding the alarm
In August 2019 Greta Greta sailed across the Atlantic ocean from Plymouth, UK to New York, US in a yatch powered by solar panels. As a run-up to UN’s climate action summit, the youth activists across the globe have joined together to mark September 20th as the global day of solidarity to demand concrete actions in mitigating the effects of climate change.
It is heartening to know that in Pakistan environmentalists, climate activists as well as school and university students are gearing up for a nationwide Climate March on the 20th of September to highlight the urgency of grave impacts of Climate Change in the country and the region. Pakistan is among the list of the most vulnerable countries to the impacts of climate change where a 2 degree rise in temperature could seriously jeopardies the already precarious ecological balance in the country. A recently published article in The Time has declared Jacobabad as the hottest place in the world, which is inhabited by people, and if the current temperature trends were to persist would soon be rendered uninhabitable.
Strike for climate is imperative since it affects human rights. Millions of people across the globe, especially children are suffering from the catastrophic effects of climate change. Statistically 400,000 premature deaths are due to climate change and an additional 250,000 deaths are attributed to climate change. There is a 20% increase in global hunger due to climate change and with an increase in temperatures around 1 billion people will see a severe reduction in water resources.
Climate change is the environmental challenge of this generation and it is imperative that we act before it’s too late. Our house is on fire so lets act accordingly.
– Dr. Mehreen Mujtaba is a freelance consultant working in the areas of environment and health.