Guest essay by Eric Worrall
Alexandria Villasenor, 13, hopes braving brutal polar vortex winter conditions by sitting outside UN Headquarters will inspire others in the US and China to join her school strike against global warming.
How a 7th-grader’s strike against climate change exploded into a movement
By Sarah Kaplan
February 16 at 10:00 AMNEW YORK — On the ninth Friday of her strike, 13-year-old Alexandria Villasenor wakes to a dozen emails, scores of Twitter notifications, and good news from the other side of the planet: Students in China want to join her movement.
Every week since December, the seventh-grader has made a pilgrimage to the United Nations Headquarters demanding action on climate change. She is one of a cadre of young, fierce and mostly female activists behind the “school strikes for climate” movement. On March 15, with the support of some of the world’s biggest environmental groups, tens of thousands of kids in at least two dozen countries and nearly 30 U.S. states plan to skip school to protest.
Their demands are uncompromising: Nations must commit to cutting fossil-fuel emissions in half in the next 10 years to avoid catastrophic global warming.
…
“My generation is really upset.” The deal struck at COP24, the U.N. climate meeting in December, was insufficient, she says. “We’re not going to let them . . . hand us down a broken planet.”
“Huh. Right,” the reporter says. “Big ambitions.”
Alexandria raises her eyebrows.
“Yeah,” she replies, confident.
Afterward, she changes into her striking uniform: waterproof ski pants and a down jacket, all in white, just like the congresswomen at the State of the Union and the suffragists of old. She packs her bag — planner, thermos, gloves — and grabs her plastic-encased cardboard signs, which read “SCHOOL STRIKE 4 CLIMATE” and “COP 24 FAILED US.”
…
Read more (paywalled): https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/how-a-7th-graders-strike-against-climate-change-exploded-into-a-movement/2019/02/15/e20868e2-2fb4-11e9-86ab-5d02109aeb01_story.html
What is wrong with this picture?
Thank you @blkahn! I enjoyed talking to you and you wrote a great article about my @UN #ClimateStrike and our plans for March 15th! @Strike4Youth @StrikeClimate @GretaThunberg https://t.co/PUGfdhQOv4
— Alexandria Villaseñor (@AlexandriaV2005) February 1, 2019
For me, the most striking thing in the picture is the amount of plastic on display – plastic covered signs, and plastic cold weather gear Alexandria is wearing. Most plastic is produced by processing chemicals extracted from fossil fuels.
If kids want to strike against global warming, and strike against fossil fuel extraction, surely the first thing they should do is divest themselves of the products of fossil fuel extraction, products they would deny to future generations.
Alexandria not alone in failing to see the connection between her own life choices and fossil fuel products – most of the pictures I’ve seen of school strikers involve a lot of plastic cold weather gear.
What about the impact on Alexandria’s education? A lot of commenters (including myself) have suggested that school strikers will do their future prospects harm, but on reflection I think it more likely that at least some of today’s liberal universities will give verified student strikers a credit, to compensate for missing their studies while they were out marching against climate change.
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Hey if it gets you out of school I am sure you are for it. I would love to have gotten out of school for something as trivial as this.
They’re right. They should boycott schools that are pushing emotions over scientific and practical analysis.
But only on Friday’s so they can have long weekends. Like the “Save The Plant” Pot sign
Street theater has become a banal bore. And darling, it just makes you look like a tool. Seriously.
Well said.
We are all familiar with the idea of using proxy data to reconstruct the past solar activity and more recent or the very distant past of the climate’s natural variability.
What the UK and US are not familiar is using the school children as proxies for political propaganda.
Some of us have been there, done that and realised (here at age of 16) that reality is not always as we were or are told. These kids are young enough to live to see if the cause they are ‘fighting’ for was right or not.
The power of propaganda on display. She will live long enough to see world domination by joint global totalitarianism and by the time she wakes up it will be too late to fix it with votes. At that point protest, against the power of government, will be answered with imprisonment and death. Tiananmen Square Sweet Cheeks.
“The power of propaganda on display.”
That’s exactly what it is.
Propaganda and Lies are an existential threat to our personal freedoms. Voters cannot make the proper votes without the truth. Otherwise, they will mistakenly vote for Democrats or Socialists who will steal all our freedoms away, under the guise of doing what is best for us.
Unfortunately, the Democrats and the Socialists have control of the Propaganda Machine, the Leftwing News Media and the Leftwing Entertainment Media and the Leftwing School System.
We have a long struggle ahead, and it won’t be easy, but there is still hope that enough people will see through all the propaganda and will put the right people in office (Trump) to get us away from the horrors of Socialism/Authoritarianism..
Did this happen two weeks ago?
How does a schoolchild withdrawing their labour affect anyone but themselves?
This isn’t a strike. It’s a truant.
It’s a tragically sad response to brainwashing children into a genuinely held fear of something which is not going to happen, and for which there is no genuine evidence.
It is purely cynical on the part of the U.N. and the IPCC as it uses this to try and create a global, anti-capitalist government along left-wing socialist-marxist lines and at the same time to destroy western economies. It is pure greed on the part of the green industrial complex that feeds off of and profits from this fear, and moreover provides millions of $ for propaganda to promote and perpetuate it so as to grow its industry.
These children have been groomed and I dread to think how they will see and feel about “Science” and politicians when they realise they have been lied to and betrayed.
Excellent comment!
Yes, as the old Latin expression goes: Mundus vult decipi.😕
I had to look it up….so what?
Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur. I should have known…a Latin phrase, means “The world wants to be deceived, so let it be deceived.”
Just like the Maxim of law “Let him who is deceived, be deceived”.
The same way all socialists react when they discover their theories don’t work and can never work. Double down and believe twice as hard next time.
Only two things are less intelligent; parent 1 and parent 2.
You are assuming there are two parents!
The really dark side of this is that the people organising this are using the same techniques as Hitler used with his Youth Movement.
Do I need to explain?
Somehow I doubt that a sceptical Teacher would survive in the educational system these days.
The techniques used by Hitler with his Youth Movement were the exact same techniques Baden-Powell used with his Scout Movement.
It’s not the techniques. It’s the morality.
The wrong does not necessarily have the might.
My wife, who grew up in Canada, recalls the ‘state of fear’ drummed up during the Cuban missile crisis,when she and other kids were worried, on their way out to school, that it might be the last time they saw their Mom and Dad. At the same time, I was in England, where most people wondered just WHY the Yanks had got so terrified. And now we know – it was mostly propaganda. Just like the CAGW these days – except then, I think that the Europeans Were smarter!
In 1970, I was 13yo … and to “celebrate” the very first “Earth Day” … my middle school administration organized a MARCH of the entire student body through the downtown of our beautiful upper, upper, middle class N.CA suburban bedroom community … during the school day. We were used as political pawns by a radical leftist administration who framed the truancy as “educational”. Yes, it was educational … I learned how Political theatre is the currency of leftist politics.
This is only a beginning. In April 1945 Germany actually drafted schoolchildren – only to find that they were not indoctrinated enough to die for Das Vaterland.
And these days they are probably not indoctrinated enough to sacrifice their expensive Iphones/laptops for the climate.
“What about the impact on Alexandria’s education? A lot of commenters (including myself) have suggested that school strikers will do their future prospects harm.”
What more other than the fact that she is staging a “sit-in” against climate do you need to conclude that her education is already a casualty in the “war of the greenies.” Truth is always the first casualty in times of war.
Poor kid. Another AOC being produced by the K thru 12 school systems?
What impact?
Nations must commit to cutting fossil-fuel emissions in half in the next 10 years”
“My generation is really upset.”
…she changes into her striking uniform: waterproof ski pants
Which are made from nylon, polyester or Gore-Tex (PTFE) etc
I’m guessing this 13-year-old won’t be doing chemistry. Why bother, she knows it all, right
“I’m guessing this 13-year-old won’t be doing chemistry. ”
And she lived through the pause, too.
“And she lived through the pause, too.”
Yeah, she won’t know what rising temperatures are like!
Pro-life?
Braving the polar vortex, children hope for a warmer future. Then Spring.
Gore effect?
That’s why Gore-Tex was invented – so lefties would have something warm to wear while the Gore effect dropped a polar vortex onto their planned CAGW protest.
From the linked Article, “Alexandria Villasenor doesn’t remember a world without climate change.”
If it hasn’t been any different all her life, how does she know it has changed?
I’m in my 30’s and haven’t experienced “normal” Utopian weather either.
I don’t think my grandparents and great grandparents were aware they were living in climate Utopia..
Of course the irony is that as in this context climate change is a synonym for global warming she hasn’t experienced much of that in her lifetime either.
She probably has when she left her air conditioned home in summer. The change they want will make energy so expensive that an air conditioned home will be a thing of the past.
Also in winter she will miss all that energy to keep her warm.
When you get to be my age, you’ll realize that it’s way colder than when you were 30 (and global warming is just propaganda).
Poor kid. I’m almost 65. If the seasons didn’t change, if “The Climate” didn’t change, as it always has in roughly 60 year cycles, THEN I might get concerned.
As it is, the changes are all very normal. Poor kid.
PS If she any kind of education all, she’d start to question just what is the cause of the weather changing and why what has happened before is suddenly being “hypered”? To promote “The Cause”?
These poor kids don’t understand they live in an ice age. They probably also didn’t hear that the communist utopia they want has been tried and everytime killed millions.
Striking means withdrawing one’s labour. Who cares if they mess up their
indoctrinationeducation? It hurts nobody else.In the UK one silly child had a sign reading: Climate Change should be taught in History, not Science
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/02/15/kids-climate-march-why-arent-they-in-school/
These deluded kids are nothing more than useful idiots for the adults pulling their strings.
I see a very good reason to raise the voting age to at least 25.
They also go on strike when they don’t like what’s for dinner?
25? That means they’ve only just left university, where they’ve been indoctrinated in Marxism.
At least 30, so most of them will have had a few years in the real world to learn a few things about reality.
Stop voting for what’s destroying your way of life altogether – bigger and bigger grabbermint.
“At least 30”
Yes, I think 30 years old is about right for a voting age. By that time one’s brain is fully formed.
Excellent idea, and we should also not permit anyone younger than 30 to become a member of our armed services. That way all our soldiers will have fully formed brains. Ditto for first responders.
A better test is to wait until they are net taxpayers. That would exclude people like Keith permanently.
I think an intelligent 18-year-old could cast a proper vote if they were told the truth about the situation on which they are voting.
I think 18-year-olds have more difficulty discerning political truth from lies than older people, because of their lack of experience of the world. They tend to trust authority maybe a little too much, and that is especially problematic when the authorties are distorting the truth for political purposes, which is the case with today’s politics.
Actually climate change probably should be taught in History.
“Once it was hotter, then we had a little ice age, the it got warmer for a bit (but still not warm enough for grow grapes in Greenland) and then everyone died horrible heat death after a tree ring fell off a hockey stick.”
Probably also should be taught in law under Fraud.
Actual science should be left to those who understand how basic scientific method works.
Isn’t it child abuse to allow her to stay on the streets like that? The picture of her bundled up in that big sleeping bag made me wonder where the desperate street people of New York City are hiding. That bag would house at least two people.
I too was thinking of that sleeping bag the young lady is rolled up in. I suspect it is made of nylon or maybe a blend of nylon and polyester which are made from — guess what — crude oil. Wondering if the young lady knows what hypocrisy is.
Apparently the parents and teachers of these children have been remiss in not teaching them the concept of ‘Intellectual Dishonesty’.
As we watch minors being incorporated into the Climate Alarmist Movement, let us remind ourselves here of the incorporation of Germany’s youth (Hitler Youth Movement) into the Nazi movement in Germany in the 1930s and 40s:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDMu4QylVRQ.
So the alarmists get the cues not just be Orwell’s “Nineteen-Eighty Four,” but from Nazi Germany as well. I find it disgusting to see history being repeated in this way with minors.
In the mid 60s we had a German graduate student in our group of MSc students. He walked badly, with a limp caused by a Russian bullet to his lower leg. He got it when he was 12yo defending Berlin. He still thought that the world would be a better place if Hitler had won. What kids learn young can easily last a lifetime.
“Children’s Climate Change Strike Spreads to the USA”. Not unlike the way cancer spreads. It feeds off of ignorance, emotionalism, and hysteria, and its enemies are knowledge, logic, and clear-headedness. Mush-brained kiddos are the perfect vehicle such nonsense.
Just like the Children’s Crusade, the annoited have a unique talent for serving youth to the meat grinder.
Ignorant and naive children exploited by teachers and parents to push views these adults are not prepared to push in their own free time and on their own dime. They need to be given heavy fines to stop the nonsense.
Cure: One way or another, federal funds stream to support schools, which in turn are required to meet standards, in particular, by holding classes to which attendance is required for a certain number of days per year.
1. Require students to attend makeup days during “their summer”
2. Otherwise, diminish the educational funding support accordingly.
Shouldn’t take long to see the light.
It is CAGW ‘(THE IDEA)”s kinder shock troops.
I predict that CNN, ABC, and so on fake news crews who will consist of young pretty woman will film and interview the children protestors.
The young children protestors will look cute and will say ‘someone must save the planet’ and ‘please spend all our country’s money on ‘green stuff’ that does not work so we can be unemployed and have the highest electrical rates in the world’.
Pepsi..?
It would be great to interview her and ask some basic questions. How much CO2 by volume in the atmosphere? How much is human caused? How much has it increased in the last 100 years? What is the most common “greenhouse gas”? What is solar radiation? What parts of solar radiation are involved in heating the atmosphere? What role does conduction, convection etc play in heat transfer? How does the ocean (water) heat? What is the heat capacity of water and air? What is photosynthesis? What is sequestration? How does CO2 differ from carbon? You get the point. Bet she doesn’t know any of this in grade 7. She just knows she doesn’t want to die = child abuse.
I wouldn’t even go as far as CO2. I would say… “You are on strike to protest global warming?” “Yes…” “Because the world is… too hot?” “Yes…”
The next part of my interview didn’t come out because it was in angle brackets. It was going to be: (stare at giant toasty sleep bag until the irony sinks in)
Of course the irony is that as in this context climate change is a synonym for global warming she hasn’t experienced much of that in her lifetime either.
Quite true. The NOAA Climate Reference System CONUS temperature chart shows wide fluctuations but no overall change since the system started, about 13 years ago.
They are rebels without a clue.
“…with the support of some of the world’s biggest environmental groups….” who are weaponizing our children. Do we call them Climate Youth?
“We’re not going to let them . . . hand us down a broken planet.”
No, you’re going to _guarantee_ that they do, by removing all the benefits of modern society.
Only people over 60 have personally experienced 30 years of a slightly cooler climate and 30 years of a slightly warmer climate.
In both cases there was a media panic ascribing observations to human activity.
Schoolkids know nothing and are easily manipulated by politically motivated educators.
Actually we have experience a lot more. We have probably lived in a number of different climatic zones, survived droughts and floods, felt scorching heat and bitter cold, fierce gales and perhaps the doldrums.
Those of us who love history have also read journals of people written many years ago by people living in these same areas with very similar experiences. It is a joke that “extreme”(sic) weather is a modern phenomenon and directly attributable to the increased Carbon Dioxide concentration
“No, you’re going to _guarantee_ that they do, by removing all the benefits of modern society.”
And by not learning proper science.
Where, oh where, are their teachers in all of this?
There are five obvious questions the teachers should already have asked—or will in the near future ask—their students, who they are responsible for educating:
1) What do YOU mean be the term “climate change”?
2) If you cannot answer the above question, who has defined “climate change” explicitly for you . . . and which of the following does that definition include:
— the world getting hotter in summers, or colder in winters,
— the world suffering from flooding, or from droughts,
— the world suffering from too much CO2, or too little CO2 for optimum crop growth to feed humanity,
— the world suffering from too much cloud cover, or too little cloud cover,
— the world suffering from too many insects (pests), or too few insects (species extinction),
— the world suffering from too many El Ninos, or too many La Ninas?
— the world suffering from too much wind (claimed increase in storms of all types) or too little wind (for windmill power farms to be reliable)?
3) What is the ideal climate that we should pick, for the whole world, so that we can fight to prevent it from having any future change whatsoever?
4) What is the scientific evidence that “carbon emissions” by mankind’s activities have been proved to affect climate change, keeping in mind that increases in atmospheric CO2 levels have never been proven scientifically to cause the amount of global warming observed over the last 200 years?
5) What caused the scientifically-documented, multiple periods of tens-of-thousands of years of continuous global warming before humans ever walked on earth?
If you are going to play in the game, you have to walk-the-walk and talk-the-talk.
As for where the students’ parents are in all of this . . . ignorance is bliss, as the saying goes.
You are on the right track. I would add a couple of comments:
Teachers need to define “climate”, “climate change” and “weather” and explain climatic zones.
Teachers must recognize that a 5ºC increase in the average for a certain area does not necessarily mean it will be unlivable. Colder areas will benefit from the increase. Even in many warmer areas, as long as there is water, we can adapt.
Teachers should notice that many live in areas that do not have the most pleasant climates while avoiding areas with pleasant climates that are plagued by crime, civil strife or war.
Where, oh where, are their teachers in all of this?
they’re the ones filling this child’s head with this nonsense.
I have said it before, and I’ll say it again. The eventual backlash from these kids when they are adults and realise they have been lied to will be monumental.
The important thing to remember is that it’s not the kids who are doing the ‘striking’ and marching that are the important ones, it’s the ones who aren’t involved, the ones who think the fanatics are arseholes that matter. There are an awful lot more of them than there are strikers.
And in my experience, the more you forcefully cram an ideology down a child’s throat, the bigger the rebellion against it. These ‘protesters’ are probably outnumbered 20:1 by their peers and whilst the rest are out doing what most kids do, party, this mob are sacrificing themselves to the great god Gaia. If a kid could find anything more uncool to do, I’m struggling to imagine what it might be.
Are kids interested….really?
This essay from the GWPF says it all really, but from my perspective, in the last few pages where it describes kids being fed up of having their childhood fun ruined by green zealots telling them every day how naughty they and their parents have been by driving a car, flying off on holiday or switching on their heating.
https://tinyurl.com/y4ed9v6k
The resentment is gradually building.
I get the feeling that it’s an authority high and a celebrity status, even if only temporarily, that they are getting a kick out of. If nobody paid attention, they wouldn’t do it more than once. But the media interviews them and they get some attention. This goes to their heads and they want more.
They could wake up to themselves and become normal citizens. Or they could be given even more money and authority and end up another Bill McKibben.
I do not know but this “action” might just work.
A well indoctrinated young woman,sits outside the UN Headquarters,encased in fabric derived from fossil fuels in the cold.
There is a clear and present danger here.
To her indoctrination that is.
Let me break this down,a teenager sitting outside the offices of some of the most corrupt and criminal persons on the planet.
I suspect she may not enjoy some of the interactions .
And while concerned about “C.A.Global Warming” she will sit,bundled against the cold…
Plenty of time for the obvious to gnaw away at her certitude.
Do we get 10 year follow ups on these climate crusaders?
Sort of an Oprah’s where are they now?
It’s not enough that we have to be berated and lectured to by a 29 year old economic illiterate dingbat, now we have to succumb to the wisdom of a 13 year old.
In order to finish the cultural revolution, we need to mercilessness of 13-year-old children. The Great Leap forward to fossil free economy is awaiting for them. First they need to start jailing adults that are against.
I’m sorry for stating the obvious, but both Mao Zedong and Hitler-Jugend come to my mind.