I remember how stupid I was as a child. I didn’t think so at the time, obviously. And having your parents or other adults telling you how smart you are doesn’t really help forming a different opinion. Now that I have grown up, I realize that the ‘Oh, you’re so smart’ praise from an adult to a child is meant in the same way we call a dog smart when he understands by our behaviour and pattern when it’s time for that evening walk and the tree-peeing saga; it is not an actual praise, they don’t call you the new Einstein. They place you in the very confined category of pet/child, and they base their impressions on the very low threshold of what an animal or a child can do. This is more an expression of surprise based on what we expected versus what we observed. But the bottom line is every adult knows that children are stupid.
Yes, before you object – I know that children are humans and their brain capacity is actually extraordinary and they indeed are smart, in a sense that they have a great ability in learning. But, due to time (they lack experience and have many more things to learn) and biological limitations (still developing and growing physically for a few more years still), they lack the ability of thinking critically in the same way an adult can. They can’t handle complex matters, or have the ability to judge a situation in its real aspect. If someone gives you a gift, they are a good person. Things tend to be more ‘black and white’ until more knowledge and life experiences form a different brain configuration – the adult brain that is filled with what we call wisdom. And that takes years to happen.
But! That also means that children have the ability to look at things with a simplicity that often evades adults. They don’t overthink things because they can’t overthink. They haven’t reached the stage of ‘creative thinking’ (mostly demonstrated by politicians) where 2 + 2 equals something different than 4. And ideology is harder to infiltrate in their understanding of an issue. Therefore, they mostly see the core of a matter without distractions – they see the simple truth. The saying in Greece is that “You can learn the Truth from a child or a crazy person”, and, I believe the reason is exactly that.
So, children are stupid, but they are also useful for us, adults. They can show us the things that are important, the simple things that we often overlook.
The reason I’m writing this is the protests against climate change. Massive, global protests against the practices we, as humankind, utilise around our planet and they aggravate the climate as witnessed by all of us. Children following the example of Greta Thunberg from Sweden, skipped school in order to join others in protests in many major cities all over this place. This event, on its own, is quite remarkable due to its global scale and the climate subject, as there are many voices around the globe saying that there is no climate change or that there may be one, but it is entirely natural and we can’t do anything about it. Others exist who claim that it is happening, but it is still far away in time and there is no need to rush into anything. And regarding those recent environmental protests, I have read and heard a great deal of things over the past period.
Climate change is not happening I’m not a scientist, I’m not an expert. I’m not even that old. But I remember the weather being milder. I also read, and I can see what the data reveal. And the data say the average temperature has risen and the ice is melting at the poles in recent years.
Climate change is not caused by human activities I’m not a scientist, I’m not an expert. There are scientific publications supporting both opinions - the climate change being natural in our planet’s life cycle, or that it is caused by our greenhouse gas emissions. I’ve seen data that show CO2 is released to the atmosphere in larger quantities than Earth can absorb.
Climate change may be happening, and it may be caused by humans, but what’s the rush? We will have technologies that can save us eventually Hmm, a call to act retroactively maybe rather than being proactive. Yeah, that is always good advice.
This cause is good, but what do children have to do with this? They should be at school learning. They should be doing what they are supposed to be doing. Why didn’t they protest on a Saturday? It is because they don’t care about the environment but to skip class. And what do they know? If parents get fined when taking the kids from school during a school term to go away on holidays, why would it be allowed for children to miss school for a protest? Double standards! What does this teach them? That they can skip days in their job if they don’t like something. And what does this little Swedish girl know? She looks like she has some mental issue. “Go to school little girl and learn something”! If these kids want change, they should stay at school, learn stuff, become politicians and then inflict change. And our country has already done so many things about climate change, they should be complaining in China and India. That is a lot of bullshit.
Well done kids, you make it impossible for us to ignore the environment challenge Politicians, obviously.
In respect to points 1 and 2, does it really matter? Using fossil fuels and relying on them can only be bad for everyone. Their usage emits CO2 into the atmosphere, CO2 that was kept captured deep into the Earth. Maybe it will be captured again at some point, but it does pollute the only place we can currently live. And fossil fuels will end, while becoming more and more expensive to extract and use as they become rarer. We can’t rely on them entirely and we should anyway find efficient means to replace them. Fossil fuels made the modern world possible and now that we are here, it is time to find cleaner, more sustainable alternatives.
Point 3 is great, it is exactly what we have been doing since the dawn of time when we all were children. We didn’t know any better and we lacked the experience and the knowledge. We would act only in retrospect.
The Library of Alexandria was burned: Oh, maybe it is a good idea to have backups of data and valuable works of the human intellect.
The Black Plague: Maybe we shouldn’t drink toilet water and have rats in our houses.
World War I: Maybe we should have an international body for solving our differences.
World War II: Maybe we shouldn’t create the conditions for a second world war when the first one ends – and we need a more effective international body to solve our differences.
Atomic weapons, genocides, extinction of thousands of species, famines and the list goes on: We have seen the disaster and we acted right after, trying to avoid similar situations. And we are still here, so it must be working, right?
Unfortunately, if the climate reaches a tipping point, it will probably be too late to act. In this modern world we have the means to understand and measure better the environment around us, but we don’t yet have all the solutions. So, as in the past we took measures to not repeat major mistakes because we saw and learned from those mistakes, we can use our advanced technology today to measure and build predicting models about the planet’s climate and act in advance. I know predictions can be wrong, of course. But past failed predictions do not mean all future ones will be failed too, and in this specific subject the consequences are way too serious to dismiss; if those predictions come true, we are facing the extinction of humans and many many other life forms on the planet.
And you can’t act retroactively when you are dead. So, I would say it is late already and we better do something.
Point 5 is the one I don’t understand how it doesn’t infuriate everyone with half a brain. Essentially the politician says “We know there is an issue, we don’t care much though because we are old and we have an election to think about. I can’t disrupt the establishment because I rely on votes. But then, you come and make noise around this. So, though I had chosen to ignore this issue, I see a lot of potential votes in those crowds as well. I am telling you that I can’t ignore this matter anymore to keep you happy while you will vote for me, thinking I care”.
Which brings us to point 4. Everything I wrote next to that letter above are things I heard on the radio and read in comments of news websites. These, to me, are things deeply conservative people who are afraid of everything would say. Deeply questioning anything that doesn’t seem to ooze of obedience.
“Kids should be at school learning”. Yes, they should. Unless they have something crazily important to protest about. I’m sure you know I wanted to use a different word instead of ‘crazily’. What is the purpose of Education, anyway? In theory, it is to provide children with the necessary basic knowledge and social skills that will allow them to live and prosper within society, being responsible, thinking for themselves. This doesn’t mean to be obedient, never question what is happening, never act, never inflict change. And if they miss a school day to protest, it is because the school has made a good job teaching them about personal responsibility.
Also, missing school because the parents want to go on cheaper holidays is not the same with children missing school because they see the planet is dying due to the actions of the past generations - and they may not even get a chance to see their children playing. And of course, you know, witness civilization ending. This is not double standards and it made me very sad to hear a school teacher claiming that it is on radio. Not eating cheese because I’m allergic to dairy and I may die is not the same with not eating cheese because “I don’t like it”. In both cases the result is the same, the person doesn’t eat cheese, but the reasons couldn’t be any different. And while there may have been many children happy about skipping class (I have been in school too), this doesn’t really change that the reason for this protest is very serious. And this justifies the school missing action.
Kids should stay in school and they should learn. Not to be obedient workers, but to think and judge properly and live in harmony with each other within our world. This is real progress, when we all live together in peace, towards mutual goals and advancements for everyone’s prosperity. And while kids are stupid, they can see to the core of this specific issue. They see the simple Truth of this matter. In order to thrive, to advance, to progress, to work, to love, to dream, to cry, to study, to create, you first need to be alive in a livable world. If the world looks like it is getting worst, we have to do whatever we can to prevent this nightmare scenario.
And I’m not claiming that the protesters are right and everyone else is wrong. But I support their protests as it is better to act and be proven wrong, an eventual scaremonger, than not act until it is too late and there’s nothing you can do. And I stand behind the children’s right to do whatever they believe is right about issues that will influence their lives and their future. You can’t fix anything if you are dead, but you can try while you still breathe air.
Above all, I’m happy about the globality of this movement. The best thing that has happened to this world so far is the technology that made the world so small and connected. People from totally different parts of the world joined together for a mutual goal that essentially affects every life on this planet. We start to realize that we, humans, have everything in common and mutual interests, no matter where we are on the globe. For me, this is the most positive thing of the whole climate movement and what makes me optimistic for the future.
Thank you, children.