SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Climate campaigner Greta Thunberg in a video released shortly before the Biden administration kicked off a two-day virtual summit of international leaders to address the climate crisis. "The gap between what needs to be done and what we are actually doing is widening by the minute," says Thunberg. "The gap between the urgency needed and the current level of awareness and attention is becoming more and more absurd." (Photo: Screenshot/NowThis News)
Greta Thunberg Says Humanity Must Not Be Fooled by 'Bullsh*t' Climate Targets of World Leaders
The Swedish campaigner says insufficient goals and empty rhetoric represent the "biggest elephant there's even been in any room."
Apr 22, 2021
Just before U.S. President Joe Biden's two-day virtual summit on the climate crisis got underway, Swedish activist Greta Thunberg on Thursday shared a video message calling out the "bullshit" of world leaders who she says are failing to take the steps necessary to confront the planetary emergency.
"While we can fool others and even ourselves, we cannot fool nature and physics."
-- Greta Thunberg
Posted online by NowThis News, the video featuring Thunberg comes as a warning from the well-known global climate campaigner that the people of the world should not be fooled by the lofty rhetoric they will hear at the summit.
"At the Leaders' Climate Summit, countries will present their new climate commitments, like net-zero emissions by 2050," Thunberg says in the video. "They will call these hypothetical targets 'ambitious.' But when you compare our insufficient targets with the overall current best available science, you clearly see that there's a gap. There are decades missing."
Watch the video:
The 18-year-old founder of "Fridays for Future" and inspiration for the global climate strike movement also penned an open letter first published in Vogue on Thursday, making much the same argument.
"You may call us naive for believing change is possible, and that's fine," Thunberg wrote. "But at least we're not so naive that we believe that things will be solved by countries and companies making vague, distant, insufficient targets without any real pressure from the media and the general public."
Thunberg continued:
Of course, we welcome all efforts to safeguard future and present living conditions. And these targets could be a great start if it wasn't for the tiny fact that they are full of gaps and loopholes. Such as leaving out emissions from imported goods, international aviation and shipping, as well as the burning of biomass, manipulating baseline data, excluding most feedback loops and tipping points, ignoring the crucial global aspect of equity and historic emissions, and making these targets completely reliant on fantasy or barely existing carbon-capturing technologies. But I don't have time to go into all that now.
The point is that we can keep using creative carbon accounting and cheat in order to pretend that these targets are in line with what is needed. But we must not forget that while we can fool others and even ourselves, we cannot fool nature and physics. The emissions are still there, whether we choose to count them or not.
"The gap between what needs to be done and what we are actually doing is widening by the minute," she added. "The gap between the urgency needed and the current level of awareness and attention is becoming more and more absurd. And the gap between our so-called climate targets and the overall, current best-available science should no longer be possible to ignore."
Speaking of world leaders in the Thursday video and the shortcomings of their climate proposals thus far, Thunberg said, "Let's call out their bullshit," because the gap between what their rhetoric and what's actually needed is "the biggest elephant there's even been in any room."
Along with other witnesses, Thunberg is testifying before congressional lawmakers on Thursday during a hearing convened by the House Subcommittee on the Environment.
Watch the hearing--titled "The Role of Fossil Fuel Subsidies in Preventing Action on the Climate Crisis" and slated to begin at 10:00 am ET--live:
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
climate emergencyenvironmentextreme weatherfossil fuelsgreta thunberginequalityjoe bidenpollutionro khannaus house
Just before U.S. President Joe Biden's two-day virtual summit on the climate crisis got underway, Swedish activist Greta Thunberg on Thursday shared a video message calling out the "bullshit" of world leaders who she says are failing to take the steps necessary to confront the planetary emergency.
"While we can fool others and even ourselves, we cannot fool nature and physics."
-- Greta Thunberg
Posted online by NowThis News, the video featuring Thunberg comes as a warning from the well-known global climate campaigner that the people of the world should not be fooled by the lofty rhetoric they will hear at the summit.
"At the Leaders' Climate Summit, countries will present their new climate commitments, like net-zero emissions by 2050," Thunberg says in the video. "They will call these hypothetical targets 'ambitious.' But when you compare our insufficient targets with the overall current best available science, you clearly see that there's a gap. There are decades missing."
Watch the video:
The 18-year-old founder of "Fridays for Future" and inspiration for the global climate strike movement also penned an open letter first published in Vogue on Thursday, making much the same argument.
"You may call us naive for believing change is possible, and that's fine," Thunberg wrote. "But at least we're not so naive that we believe that things will be solved by countries and companies making vague, distant, insufficient targets without any real pressure from the media and the general public."
Thunberg continued:
Of course, we welcome all efforts to safeguard future and present living conditions. And these targets could be a great start if it wasn't for the tiny fact that they are full of gaps and loopholes. Such as leaving out emissions from imported goods, international aviation and shipping, as well as the burning of biomass, manipulating baseline data, excluding most feedback loops and tipping points, ignoring the crucial global aspect of equity and historic emissions, and making these targets completely reliant on fantasy or barely existing carbon-capturing technologies. But I don't have time to go into all that now.
The point is that we can keep using creative carbon accounting and cheat in order to pretend that these targets are in line with what is needed. But we must not forget that while we can fool others and even ourselves, we cannot fool nature and physics. The emissions are still there, whether we choose to count them or not.
"The gap between what needs to be done and what we are actually doing is widening by the minute," she added. "The gap between the urgency needed and the current level of awareness and attention is becoming more and more absurd. And the gap between our so-called climate targets and the overall, current best-available science should no longer be possible to ignore."
Speaking of world leaders in the Thursday video and the shortcomings of their climate proposals thus far, Thunberg said, "Let's call out their bullshit," because the gap between what their rhetoric and what's actually needed is "the biggest elephant there's even been in any room."
Along with other witnesses, Thunberg is testifying before congressional lawmakers on Thursday during a hearing convened by the House Subcommittee on the Environment.
Watch the hearing--titled "The Role of Fossil Fuel Subsidies in Preventing Action on the Climate Crisis" and slated to begin at 10:00 am ET--live:
Just before U.S. President Joe Biden's two-day virtual summit on the climate crisis got underway, Swedish activist Greta Thunberg on Thursday shared a video message calling out the "bullshit" of world leaders who she says are failing to take the steps necessary to confront the planetary emergency.
"While we can fool others and even ourselves, we cannot fool nature and physics."
-- Greta Thunberg
Posted online by NowThis News, the video featuring Thunberg comes as a warning from the well-known global climate campaigner that the people of the world should not be fooled by the lofty rhetoric they will hear at the summit.
"At the Leaders' Climate Summit, countries will present their new climate commitments, like net-zero emissions by 2050," Thunberg says in the video. "They will call these hypothetical targets 'ambitious.' But when you compare our insufficient targets with the overall current best available science, you clearly see that there's a gap. There are decades missing."
Watch the video:
The 18-year-old founder of "Fridays for Future" and inspiration for the global climate strike movement also penned an open letter first published in Vogue on Thursday, making much the same argument.
"You may call us naive for believing change is possible, and that's fine," Thunberg wrote. "But at least we're not so naive that we believe that things will be solved by countries and companies making vague, distant, insufficient targets without any real pressure from the media and the general public."
Thunberg continued:
Of course, we welcome all efforts to safeguard future and present living conditions. And these targets could be a great start if it wasn't for the tiny fact that they are full of gaps and loopholes. Such as leaving out emissions from imported goods, international aviation and shipping, as well as the burning of biomass, manipulating baseline data, excluding most feedback loops and tipping points, ignoring the crucial global aspect of equity and historic emissions, and making these targets completely reliant on fantasy or barely existing carbon-capturing technologies. But I don't have time to go into all that now.
The point is that we can keep using creative carbon accounting and cheat in order to pretend that these targets are in line with what is needed. But we must not forget that while we can fool others and even ourselves, we cannot fool nature and physics. The emissions are still there, whether we choose to count them or not.
"The gap between what needs to be done and what we are actually doing is widening by the minute," she added. "The gap between the urgency needed and the current level of awareness and attention is becoming more and more absurd. And the gap between our so-called climate targets and the overall, current best-available science should no longer be possible to ignore."
Speaking of world leaders in the Thursday video and the shortcomings of their climate proposals thus far, Thunberg said, "Let's call out their bullshit," because the gap between what their rhetoric and what's actually needed is "the biggest elephant there's even been in any room."
Along with other witnesses, Thunberg is testifying before congressional lawmakers on Thursday during a hearing convened by the House Subcommittee on the Environment.
Watch the hearing--titled "The Role of Fossil Fuel Subsidies in Preventing Action on the Climate Crisis" and slated to begin at 10:00 am ET--live:
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.