Greta Thunberg, Adriana Calderón, Farzana Faruk Jhumu and Eric Njuguna
08/27/2021 12:58 PM
Clarín.com
The New York Times International Weekly
Updated 08/27/2021 12:58 PM
Some of the world's leading climate change scientists have confirmed that humans are causing
irreversible
changes
to our planet and that extreme weather conditions will become increasingly severe.
This news is "a red traffic light for humanity," said the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
It is — but young people like us have been sounding this alarm for years.
Only you haven't listened to us.
A poster is seen on the ground during an Extinction Rebellion climate protest in London, Britain on August 27, 2021. Photo REUTERS / May James.
On August 20, 2018, a girl staged a solitary protest outside the Swedish Parliament, expecting to stay for three weeks.
Last week marked the third anniversary of
Greta Thunberg's
strike
.
Even earlier, brave young men around the world have raised their voices in their communities about the climate crisis.
And today,
millions of children and young people
have come together in a movement with one voice, demanding that decision makers do the work necessary to save our planet from the unprecedented heat waves, massive floods and immense wildfires that we are witnessing more and more.
Our protest will not end until inaction ceases.
For children and young people, climate change is the number one threat to our future.
We will have to clean up the mess made by adults, and we are the ones most likely to suffer now.
Children are more vulnerable than adults to dangerous weather events, disease and other damage caused by climate change, which is why a new analysis that
Unicef
released this month is so important.
The
Climate Risk Index
for Children offers the first comprehensive overview of where and how this crisis affects children.
It ranks countries based on children's exposure to climate and environmental shocks, as well as their underlying vulnerability to those shocks.
The report finds that almost every child on the planet is exposed to at least one climate or environmental hazard right now.
A staggering 850 million, about a third of all the world's children, are exposed to four or more climate or environmental hazards, such as heat waves, cyclones, air pollution, floods, or water shortages.
One billion children, almost half of the world's children, live in
“extremely high risk”
countries
, Unicef researchers report.
This is the world they are leaving us.
But we still have time to change our climate future.
Our youth activist movement continues to grow around the world.
In
Bangladesh
, 23-year-old Tahsin Uddin saw the impacts of climate change in his village and other coastal areas, and was motivated to act.
Uddin created a network of young journalists and educators to spread awareness, while also organizing clean-up activities for waterways littered with plastic waste pollution.
In the
Philippines
, 23-year-old Mitzi Jonelle Tan had to do homework by candlelight while typhoons outside wreaked havoc and ruined her community's power grid.
He told us that there were times when he was afraid of drowning in his own bedroom when it began to flood.
Now he leads the youth of his country to respond to the aftermath of those typhoons and other dangers by distributing food, water, clothing and support to the most affected communities.
In
Zimbabwe,
18-year-old Nkosi Nyathi is concerned about a potential food crisis if weather patterns continue.
Heat waves have made school challenging for him and his classmates.
Now he speaks to world leaders to demand that young people be included in decisions that affect their future.
The ultimate goal of adults in any society is to protect their young and do everything possible to leave a better world than the one they inherited.
The current generation of adults, and those before them, are failing on a global scale.
Many countries most at risk are poorer nations in the south of the world, and it is there that people will see the greatest impact, despite being the least contributors to the problem.
We will not allow industrialized countries to shirk their responsibility for the suffering of children in other parts of the world.
Governments, industry, and the rest of the international community must work together to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as 195 nations pledged in 2015 to do so in the
Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
Less than 100 days
until the UN Climate Change Conference
in Glasgow, Scotland.
Climate scientists around the world have made it clear that this is the time to act urgently.
We are in a crisis crisis.
A pollution crisis.
A climate crisis.
A crisis of children's rights.
We will not allow the world to look away.
The authors are young climate activists from Sweden, Mexico, Bangladesh and Kenya, and they work with the Fridays For Future movement, led by international youth.
They wrote the foreword for the Children's Climate Risk Index.
Send feedback to intelligence@nytimes.com.
© 2021 The New York Times
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