Greta Thunberg may be a fraud - but is that the point?

If you are writing off Greta Thunberg as a case of poster girl for environmentalists-with-vested-interest and believe that her doomsday predictions are just shenanigans - you are missing the point entirely.

Here's a teenager who's situation is compounded by Asperger's syndrome and Selective Mutism - speaking out aloud to a community of world leaders. Her scenarios are obviously blown out of proportion - weren't yours when you were adolescent?

The point isn't whether or not her predictions are true - the point is we adults care so much less than we should.

Mankind will not go extinct - and while some species might, its not going to be a mass extinction either. If it indeed does happen, while millions of poorer humans may perish, most of us using social media, (presumed to be) living in developed cities / towns will survive. Temperature going up by 2° will inflate your Air Conditioning bill and may be add to 'work from home' days when its either snowing or raining heavily. Recession will be longer but we will still get food. A century or so later, worst case, we might be living in artificially environment controlled domes - a little larger than today's malls. It'll be fun also - imagine your hostel days. And trust me - I am not being sarcastic!

But again, we are missing the point - just because we will survive and live better, doesn't mean than climate change isn't real or that its all brouhaha. All that the kid is asking you to do is pay more attention to the climate than economic recession or AI taking over the world. Just make it the top item on your bucket list. Raise it at every forum you can - discuss it with your friends before you talk about the next web-series.

She's a kid, what does she know? She doesn't, but her emotion, which is surely hormonally charged given her age, is what we need to relate to - all she's asking you is to think about this from your heart than just your head.

Image Credit: https://unsplash.com/photos/qbtyUQtqJ8k

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