Donald Trump vs. Greta Thunberg in Davos

Trump's belittling of youth activists continues to make the headlines

While President Trump dismissed Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and scientists as "perennial prophets of doom" at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, climate strikers in drought-stricken southeast Australia were posting photos on Twitter of Biblical rounds of dust and hail storms, in the aftermath of mega fires that covered an area the size of some European countries. According to the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's 2018 landmark report in 2018, 2030 is deadline for all government institutions to cut CO2 emissions by 45% to stem rising temperatures to 2.7 degrees (Fahrenheit) to avert irreversible tipping points for climate mayhem.

CO2 emissions reached a record high in 2019

On the same day the Mauna Loa Observatory recorded that CO2 emissions levels had reached 415.79 ppm, a new atmospheric record in our human existence, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin heaped more scorn on Thunberg at Davos "After she goes and studies economics in college she can come back and explain that to us." Thunberg's response on Twitter put the Secretary's comments in context: "…it doesn’t take a college degree in economics to realize that our remaining 1,5° carbon budget and ongoing fossil fuel subsidies and investments don’t add up."

Serving as global witnesses, not prophets

Climate youth activists with the "Fridays for Future" movement from the flood-ravaged zones of central Africa and Indonesia, to the burning forests of Brazil to the Congo, and across the world, are not predicting the weather, but simply holding up signs that mirror the realities of spiraling environmental degradation, displacement and injustice in our communities. The real problem is that Trump is not the only leader on a local or global level to misconstrue the efforts of climate youth activists as an excuse for their own inaction or a complete disregard of science in policy decisions.

Brut.