Greta Thunberg Calls Out Climate Change Deniers in French Parliament

Brut America

"There is no middle ground when it comes to the climate and ecological emergency." Climate activist Greta Thunberg has a strong message to politicians who treat climate science as fiction.

Transcript

00:00A lot of politicians, business leaders, journalists say they don't agree with what we are saying.

00:09They say we children are exaggerating, that we are alarmists.

00:15To answer this, I would like to refer to page 108, chapter 2, in the latest IPCC report.

00:25There you will find all our opinions summarized.

00:30Because there you find our remaining carbon dioxide budget.

00:36Right there it says that if we are to have a 67% chance of limiting the global temperature rise to below 1.5 degrees,

00:46we had on January 1st, 2018, 420 gigatons of carbon dioxide left in our CO2 budget.

00:57And of course that number is much lower today.

01:01We emit about 42 gigatons of CO2 every year.

01:08At current emissions levels, that remaining budget is gone within roughly eight and a half years.

01:18These numbers are as real as it gets.

01:21Though a great number of scientists suggest that they are too generous,

01:25these are the ones that have been accepted by all nations through the IPCC.

01:32And not once, not one single time have I heard any politician, journalist or business leader even mention these numbers.

01:44It is almost like you don't even know they exist.

01:51As if you haven't even read the latest IPCC report on which the future of our civilization is depending.

02:02Or maybe you are simply not mature enough to tell it like it is.

02:13Because even that burden you leave to us children.

02:20We become the bad guys who have to tell people these uncomfortable things because no one else wants to or dares to.

02:30And just for quoting and acting on these numbers, these scientific facts,

02:37we receive unimaginable amounts of hate and threats.

02:43We are being mocked and lied about by elected officials, members of parliaments, business leaders, journalists.

02:53What I really would like to ask all of those who question our so-called opinions or think that we are extreme,

03:03do you have a different budget for at least a reasonable chance of staying below the 1.5 degrees of warming limit?

03:14Is there another intergovernmental panel on climate change?

03:19Is there a secret Paris Agreement that we don't know about?

03:25One that does not declude the aspect of equity.

03:30Because these are the numbers that count.

03:33This is the current best available science.

03:37You can't simply make up your own facts just because you don't like what you hear.

03:44There is no middle ground when it comes to the climate and ecological emergency.

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