CLIMATE CHANGE / WHY THIS IS MORE THAN A STUDENT PROTEST

This is for the too many people that believe that the students' recent protests are useless, petty, or do not serve a particular goal. 

15th of February, UK, credits to The China Post

I won't address here the reasons why global warming is a major environmental issue; Thanks to many organizations, awareness on this is being raised. However, it is often said that the students' current protests all over the world are meaningless and joined because they are 'trendy'. Furthermore, students are accused of not taking clear actions at their level regarding environmental issues. 

While students are also partly responsible for the current environmental situation, as we do not all hold the best environmentally friendly habits, we have been accustomed to these habits because of the education the previous generations and government have given us. 

We have been used to mass consumption, are sold and made dependent of non recyclable goods, are asked to use electrical cars when their price is greater and our purchasing power smaller, and then called hypocrites when we protest against non action regarding climate change. 

Yes not all of the students protesting have a clear idea of the reforms they would like to see implemented, but the reason why we elect politicians is for them to offer these solutions. The students' protests show how tired we are of the amount of promises made by politicians but not respected: a clear affront to campaigning strategies and the hypocrisy of it all. Macron's famous answer to Trump's withdrawal from the Paris agreement, "Make the planet great again", was not followed by concrete actions except the resignation of the environment minister. We, students, are tired of having our hopes raised and then lied to our face. 

It is not because our protests are accompanied by music and dancing that they lack seriousness. We succeed at having peaceful protests, while much older adults part of the Yellow Jackets movement continue to destroy Paris after the government has agreed to listen. And meanwhile, TV channels continue to broadcast these protestors everyday, inviting them on TV, and completely dismiss environmental issues because it would be taking the risk of loosing a part of the audience. 

The students protests show the spark of hope that still manages to exist within us that a better future is to come. A future where when we are told that the system does not allow the implementation of an essential environmental policy, a change is made to the system, not to the policy. 

NB: If you want to take action but are not sure how, you can start by using ecosia.com instead of Google, it's a search engine which uses the profits used by ads to plant trees. Already 50 million trees have been planted thanks to them.