It was wonderful to see huge crowds of people come out this week to express concern for the way we are mistreating our environment. I hope Greta Thunberg’s fury really catches on and these gatherings don’t become footnotes in history like that year some people occupied some parks. I hope these strikes continue and lead to real change. It’s very easy for me to hope for these things because, even though I watched these events on the news and on YouTube, and I thought that’s very exciting, I haven’t changed my habits over the past week. I’ve been too busy with my own issues to stand up to these ones. How many of the people out there, who really think Thunberg is doing great things, have changed their ways in the wake of all this recent news? Has a crowd of nearly 500,000 activists, and a few politicians getting their selfie moments (hey, it was more than just the Prime Minister this time), really affected our lives? I don’t think we’re hypocrites if we admit we think Thunberg is doing great things but we haven’t become part of the solution, and at this point we remain part of the problem. Change isn’t easy even when we want to do it. How about when we are asked to give up all those great environmentally unfriendly conveniences that we all love? That wouldn’t lead us to become reactionary pigs who would attack a 16-year-old autistic girl online, would it?
Oh no. That would never happen. I really do hope this pressure can be maintained so that real change can be made and we can be pushed out of our comfort zones so we do take action. I’ve been watching our federal election campaign, and we seem to be moving into an era where our politicians have to offer us better, but at least on the federal level they are all acknowledging, to some extent, the fact that climate change exists and are admitting that we are damaging our own planet. I’m not so sure I could say the same of our provincial politicians. So, I hope these kids keep up the pressure and make the older generations re-examine our lifestyles. We need to be pushed beyond our comfort zones and if we won’t make that effort ourselves maybe our children need to. Speaking of young people doing great things, I have started a monthly feature to highlight what youth are doing to make Kincardine and Huron-Kinloss a better place to live, either through their actions or through representing the area in competition. If you want to suggest someone who should be the focus of one of these features, email me at colin@independent.on.ca