2019’s Biggest Climate Story

In 2019 the public woke up to the climate crisis. When will the politicians? Poll after poll shows that people now want action. But at the international level progress is being deliberately stymied

Stephen Buranyi, 23 December 2019 (UK Guardian)

“…The biggest story in climate in 2019 is the way in which, after years of languishing outside the mainstream, climate activism has finally broken through. It seems obvious in retrospect that the kids were the key. Self-organised, serious, heartbreakingly frank about their anger at seeing their futures foreclosed by politicians who won’t even live to see the consequences, they have lent a powerful moral drive to the entire movement…[which] has been emboldened…[because the] link between the climate emergency and our own lives has never seemed clearer…[And] poll after poll shows that public concern, and desire for action, is at an all-time high…

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But climate politics itself still seems far from any genuine watershed moment…There has been little concrete progress…[I]n the same week that Time honoured [Greta Thunberg and] the climate movement, a loose coalition of rightwing governments – including administrations in Brazil and Australia – effectively stymied [the goal] of strengthening the Paris agreement…[The international protest] effort was always meant to lead the way, but it feels increasingly remote from the rest of the climate struggle…” click here for more

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