Greta Thunberg urges MPs to take action on climate change: “We will go back to school once you start listening to us”

Greta Thunberg met with UK party leaders to discuss how they must combat ecological disaster.

With Extinction Rebellion (XR) reaching its second week of protests in London, climate change activists have been making headlines, bringing the fear of ecological disaster to the forefront of political discussion.

Among those in the crowds was sixteen-year old student activist, Greta Thunberg. She first gained attention for initiating the ‘School Strike for Climate’ in August 2018, outside the Swedish Parliament.

Since then, she has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Her credentials make her more than qualified to speak on behalf of activists across the globe.

Following Earth Day, Thunberg was invited to speak at Westminister. When addressing over 200 MPs, she condemned their lack of action. She said: “You have not done enough” and that their irresponsible behaviour would be remembered as “one of the greatest failures of humankind”.

“Nothing is being done to even halt, or even slow climate and ecological-breakdown, despite all the beautiful words and promises.”

-Greta Thunberg

Despite her damning words, Thunberg’s speech was met with a standing ovation. Iain Blackford (SNP) was among those who attended the speech. In relation to green policies, he later said: “Scotland has long been a leader on this. The rest of the UK must follow in these footsteps.”

Despite the Prime Minister’s absence at the event, environment secretary Michael Gove said that he felt “responsibility and guilt” for contributing the global crisis.

Whether or not Greta’s confrontation has genuinely shaken MPs to act is yet to be seen. Perhaps this is more of the hollow “words and promises” that she warned about.

What we do know, howvere, is that XR’s protesters have now reached Parliament Square and refuse to leave until their demands are met.