Photo credit: Vincent MA Janssen
On November 8, vegnews.com quoted vegan climate activist Greta Thunberg as saying in a recent speech, “The COPs are mainly used as an opportunity for leaders and people in power to get attention, using many different kinds of greenwashing.”
Excerpts from the story:
“Leaders and activists from around the world gathered in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt on Sunday to kick off the 27th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP27) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). One person who will not be at this year’s international conference is Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, who is skipping the event intentionally to bring awareness to the lack of meaningful change that leaders failed to implement at previous COP conferences.
“The 19-year-old explained her reasons for not attending the conference during this year’s London Literature Festival, where she began the launch of her new book ‘The Climate Book,’ which she created with input from 100 contributors in an effort to tell a holistic story about the climate crisis.
“Thunberg delivered a speech at the literature festival that focused on how the global North’s idea of ‘normal’ is built upon exploitation and that the disasters experienced by the global South are a product of this norm. ‘It is a symptom of a much larger crisis. The sustainability crisis,’ she said. ‘It has its roots in racist, oppressive extractivism that is exploiting both people and the planet to maximize short-term profits for a few.’ When asked if she would attend the COP27 conference, Thunberg explained her stance. ‘I’m not going to COP27 for many reasons, but the space for civil society this year is extremely limited,’ Thunberg said. ‘The COPs are mainly used as an opportunity for leaders and people in power to get attention, using many different kinds of greenwashing.’
“Thunberg explained that the strategies discussed at these conferences are meant mostly to be educational and are implemented far too gradually in light of the severity of the climate crisis. ‘So as it is, the COPs are not really working unless of course we use them as an opportunity to mobilize…’ she said. All of the profits from ‘The Climate Book’ will be donated to the Greta Thunberg Foundation to be allocated toward supporting climate activism.” (Anna Starostinetskaya, vegnews.com)
Read the full story here: https://vegnews.com/2022/11/climate-activist-greta-thunberg-cop27