There are some out there, many of them leaders of large corporations, countries, and other organizations, who take on a “doing good” persona of driving down carbon emissions, while they do nothing. Talk is cheap, as they say. Greta Thunberg, a Climate Activist, calls this out for what it is:

How dare you pretend that this can be solved with just "business as usual" and some technical solutions? With today's emissions levels, that remaining CO2 budget will be entirely gone within less than eight and a half years (UN Climate Summit, NY).

In many ways, she is spot on. How dare we leave this mess for our descendants, for our children to clean up? In eight years, her generation will be in their mid twenties, with little to look forward to but a life of cleaning up other’s mess. It is more than embarrassing; it’s appalling. The science has been clear since at least the 1980s  (in fact, suggested since 1898): Climate Change is real. To solve it, we must undertake a massive societal reorganization.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or the IPCC, was set up in 1987 with the sole purpose to solidify the science (see: 2019 report; all other IPCC reports).  The IPCC is comprised of hundreds of the world’s top economists, engineers, systems and social scientists. These scientists come from many different countries. Can science be wrong? Sure. Scientific debate and uncertainty are welcomed in scientific research. Yet, it indicates something that hundreds of scientists from nearly every corner of the globe have come to a consensus, based on troves of data, modelling, and evidence, that this thing is real. And that many scientists, with careers dependent on external funding, have a much higher incentive to produce good research than to lie. Indeed, there has never been a more expansive scientific report in the history of humankind. The overwhelming scientific evidence suggests: “Houston, we’ve got a problem”.

Yet this scientific evidence, growing stronger each year, has not resulted in many real actions. In a speech among the world’s elite, Greta adds: “Well I’m here to tell you that unlike you, my generation will not give up without a fight…Your inaction is fueling the flames by the hour”. Many are complacent.

To come to a tentative conclusion, before the real leaders are introduced, let me say one more thing. In this space, on this podcast, and throughout this community that I hope will blossom, let us not get clouded by inter-generational inequity, but instead come together. I am well aware that the name, Greta’s Generation, might seem like intergenerational inequities are a theme here. But that is not the purpose of the show’s name. Rather, the purpose is to bring all generations together to learn, to be inspired, and to take actions. We can all do this. And, if we want to see benefits to our shared planet, we will all have to take actions.