Your say / climate change
‘Kids caring about their planet is a tribute to the parenting they have received’
With all the excitement around Greta Thunberg’s visit to Bristol last week, it’s easy to pretend that the negative messages on social media aimed at Greta and her supporters didn’t happen or didn’t matter.
But they do matter. Putting the vile threats aside, there were ones borne of frustration from parents of climate activist children that we should not dismiss.
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You might even have seen the Facebook post of a father berating his Greta-loving daughter for not understanding the difference between real life and the zero carbon life she was demanding.
We can laugh or cry at such reactions but actually, I get it. Really, I do. All those exhausted parents who are just trying to make it through each working day while their children try to tell them that they must do something about climate change.
Climate change activists at Greta Thunberg’s visit to Bristol. Photo by Ellie Pipe
It’s easy to feel helpless when our leadership over the decades has failed to take action or ownership of the damage done to our planet in the name of profit.
The reality for many such parents is that it’s hard enough to put fuel in their cars to earn enough cash to put food on the table and keep the (environmentally damaging) heating on and money on the meter. In work poverty is rocketing. There are more families on the edge of homelessness that we have ever had.
We have the perfect storm brewing over the last decade. Austerity, climate change, Brexit, the resurrection of measles against misinformation about vaccines, avian flu, swine flu, coronavirus…. The threat of chlorinated chicken landing on our smaller-portioned plates, terrorism, fascism and, oh yeah, recession looming.
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Read more: In photos: Greta Thunberg’s visit to Bristol
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Are we really surprised that the mental health of our nation is crumbling as our NHS gasps for the air it needs to meet the demand for critically underfunded services?
To all those parents, I send love and sympathy and the hope that there will be enough kindness in their lives to give them their headspace back so they can feel empowered to make the world a better place instead of having to survive the awfulness.
But if those kids are caring about their planet it is a tribute to the parenting they have received. In spite of the stress of making ends meet, those kids have the gift of the headspace from those parents who have denied it to themselves. They’ve created kids who give a damn. Kids who feel loved enough to care about others and not just themselves.
Greta and youth activists from Bristol. Photo by Phil Riley
If you know parents like these, remind them that they rock. That they don’t have to do it all. They don’t have to carry the world on their shoulders. Their kids have got this. And those of us who can will be there for them too.
And what can you possibly say to those people in your social media streams who do have the means, the time and the cash to take action but simply don’t want the inconvenience of changing their behaviours to save the planet? My favourite Chinese quote comes to mind: “People who say it cannot be done should get out of the way of the people doing it.”
Thank you Greta and all of our passionate, brave young activists for reminding us of this. Those of us who have the headspace have got your backs.
Jaya Chakrabarti MBE is CEO of B Corp social enterprise www.tiscreport.org, vice president of the Bristol Chamber of Commerce & Initiative and mum of two
Main photo by Phil Riley
Read more: Gert Thunberg: Bristol goes gaga for Greta
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