(Washington Insider Magazine) -Climate change activist Greta Thunberg, among others, demanded the United Nations to declare a state of emergency during the COP26 meeting last week.
In a petition to the U.N. Secretary General, Antonio Gutteres, the group wanted the organization to declare a level 3 state of emergency, similar to how it did during the coronavirus pandemic.
Doing so would allow the organization to send resources and members to countries suffering from climate change the most. Since 2018, Japan, the Philippines and Germany are the top countries affected by climate change.
“Unless we achieve immediate, drastic, unprecedented, annual emission cuts at the source then that means we’re failing when it comes to this climate crisis,” Thunberg wrote on Twitter. “’Small steps in the right direction’, ‘making some progress’ or ‘winning slowly’ equals losing.”
According to a research study by Science, kids today will suffer more instances of extreme heatwaves and other climate change disasters over their lifetimes.
The study also mentioned the average child who is six years or older will see twice as many wildfires, nearly twice as many tropical storms, over three times as many floods, and over twice as many droughts compared to someone born in the 1960s.
Thunberg wrote if children want to live a full and happy life, change needs to happen now and not when there are yearly meetings.
“A reminder: the people in power don’t need conferences, treaties or agreements to start taking real climate action. They can start today,” she said. “When enough people come together then change will come and we can achieve almost anything. So instead of looking for hope – start creating it.”
During the two-week event, government officials from almost 200 countries conjured a new deal on climate action after India and China argued to cut emissions from coal.
As the conference wrapped up, the COP26 asked for countries to “accelerate efforts towards the phase-down of unabated coal power and inefficient fossil fuel subsidies.”
