Should Young People Be Panicking About The Climate Crisis? Climate Change Gets Taken Off The Table

we have um a very limited chance of reach keeping within 1.5 degrees that terrifies me i have spoken to the top climate scientists in the world and they're terrified too absolutely and if we're all terrified then nothing happens i think we have to recut in a sense of what people thought happening anyway what you're saying is that where we are now with development with consumption with all of the freedoms that we do have is worth it maybe it's because i'm slightly older on the brink of 30. okay so now we're going to go into ages then all right i'm julie edinger and this is off the table where we supercharge the debate about the issues defining our lives that matter to everyone but seem to be dividing us like never before so we have brought together a group of smart passionate individuals from a range of backgrounds to have no-nonsense discussions and today we're asking if it's too late to save our planet as we take climate change off the table and into the hands of our passionate panelists [Music] so guys welcome thank you very much for being here we are all here to talk about a very very important topic that everybody should be discussing climate change i'm joined by talia wooden who is an environmental activist photographer and filmmaker thank you for being here thank you i'm also here with amy bray who founded the environmental education charity another way when she was 16 years old thank you so much for being here and i'm here with ella whelan who's a journalist and author how are you yeah good thanks wonderful um i want to know are extreme direct action protests doing the cause of climate change more harm than good i'm going to come to you that's all right what do you mean by extreme i like that you threw it back to me so i'm going to ask you the question when we see uh videos of people disrupting the lives of people going to work commuters and things like that when we see um roads being closed people not being able to travel and get on with their day to day would you say that those process become harmful to the general public i think in the uk you know the fact that like we don't already have disruption to our day-to-day lives because of the climate crisis like puts us a great privilege um and i think we need to like keep that in perspective you know the fact that it's been an issue for so long and there's been people trying to engage the general public trying to engage people in power for so long through so many different means and it's been completely unsuccessful you know we're plummeting towards a really really scary future never mind future presence for a lot of people i grew up within like raised by people who spent years and years and years doing things within the system doing things outside of the system and nothing changed you know we're still where we are we're still going down a really really scary path um and the government isn't listening they're really not listening um and so i think it's like it comes down to how how do we bring about that change you know how can we have our voices heard ella do you feel the same when you see protesters being dragged off of the streets by motorists and commuters who are annoyed that they can't get to work do you feel like they're justified in doing that yeah um i stand in solidarity with the canning town massive who pulled people off the dlr during the pandemic when extinction rebellion protesters were trying to stop people from getting to work i defend their right to be idiots on the road but if you look at the message behind these uh climate strikers or whatever they call them it's a very undemocratic message that kind of sticks in your craw having to defend their right to democratic dissent i think it's a really big problem if young people are feeling traumatized by fear and because that is a not that's not a powerful position to be in in politics and i think a lot of this alarmism around and don't use that word lightly i think a lot of the kind of the narrative from adults tell you know engage indulging in children's fear that the world is going to end that the world is on fire or these kind of slogans that are used is a real problem because the the end point of that is well what do you do if you believe that the world is on fire and that the world is going to end will you panic and nothing and i mean obviously gretenberg and other activists and commentators have suggested that actually we should panic that it's a good thing to panic and i understand that there's a frustration from a lack of movement with of politicians in the past and but if you look at for example i'm absolutely no fan of the conservative party but they've taken on the language of extinction rebellion you know officially deciding to no longer talk about climate change but now use the term climate emergency okay that's just words and you know politicians can fob you off with a bit of vocabulary here and there but it'd be very hard-pressed to find any politician out there now that doesn't you know at least in some way agree that there should be quite drastic policies in place to train to to you know do something about climate change i think we should be saying to young giving young people a much more positive message not just as i said to be kind of but i just quickly interject do you think that's a lie when when adults are saying that i'd like to see you go to a child in mozambique that's had their whole fam like family house whole village destroyed and say that you know those empowering indulging their fears and that they should have been more positive so i thought we were primarily talking about you know talking about extinction rebellion and western movements around climate change it's not the global if you if you take for example a um child living in poverty in mozambique or indeed someone uh in sierra leone or in you know anywhere in india or places that are you know so called developing countries i think it is a privileged position for western um commentators and activists to suggest that arguing for plenty or arguing for wealth for development in those countries is a bad thing if we want to take seriously the issue of climate change which i absolutely agree with my fellow speakers we should what you need to do is think what is the solution to this is the solution freaking out another generation who rightly or wrongly might genuinely feel a sense of trauma and fear and although that i think is pretty perverse or do you say right what do we need really i think it's an it's a difficult point to make but it's an important one but i don't if you want to touch this is it perverse is it is it absolutely wild to say to someone the world is not in a good place there is going to be a flood very soon there is going to be a fire like that some countries will not exist in a minute is it is it wrong to say that to someone it's wrong because you're trying to protect them from being scared is that wrong it's not just a case of protecting people from being scared it's a case of if you give in to this alarmism this panic what happens is you start to view human beings as the problem on the planet when in actual fact this is the ipcc report this is the latest ipcc report is just terrifying and i feel like that that is not alarmism that is science and that is available for anyone to read and as young people reading science that tells us we have a very limited chance of reach keeping within 1.5 degrees that terrifies me but it also empowers me to do something about that i don't think we have to turn it into panic yeah we can turn that fear into activism and into um being empowered to do something about it and to stand out i hope i hope many more people take a leaf out of your book because i think a lot of the time there is this desire to throw your hands up in the air and feel panicked and the re this is the tricky point the reason why that's a problem is because you end up having a very short-termist view of what to do with politics because yes we can this is this is kind of the where people get tied up there is the science which is facts about what's happening in relation to global warming what's happening in relation to climate change where floods are happening where all this stuff is happening and then there's politics and politics is meant to be about how you interpret facts and how what you do with those facts right what decision do you make do you say ban all cars tomorrow or do you say change the cars we're driving do you say no one gets to fly anymore or do you say how do we innovate a way in which people can still travel internationally which is i think a good and you don't think that's happening i think it's not happening i think more often than not now the narrative is human being is a problem we have to stop them doing things to the planet so whether that's you know uh saying that consumerism is bad as it happens as someone who's critical of capitalism i'm not the biggest fan of consumerism just let me finish the information from it's it's you know this is what you're engaging with where you're getting this these supposedly popular narratives i mean if you look at uh if you look at i think it's kind of i agree with you slightly cheap to focus on extension rebellion because yes it's just one group it's one group that you know we've had greenpeace and other movements that have been around for a very long time it's not like climate change is protesting has just come out that dropped out the sky today but if you look up the the narrative of those groups it is very much that we should stop you know halt all development that we should stop doing things to the planet that actually we are the problem and i would spin it and say that human beings and human activity is the solution so if you look at things like you know we've got an entry crisis how how let me finish the point like how though but how as you know i don't even understand let's get started maybe it's because i'm slightly older on the brink of 30. okay so now we're going to go into ages then let's just let's just end okay let me just get because i want to hear that it's not ageism but i sometimes find it difficult to get into the heads of young people who do feel so frightened and that's not because i don't used to get characterized as not caring about the climate if you don't show panic and i think that's part of a problem with the debate but you know if going back to the issue of solutions it's it seems very interesting to me that very few people talk about nuclear energy there's a real resistance particularly within government to to to look at the ways in which we could find different energy sources um for our future to invest in new technologies build new nuclear power stations we're talking about the next decade we need to reduce this i think this is i think this is part of the problem there are some things that we can do immediately but you've also had and this is where i agree with climate some of the climate protesters we've had governments looking very narrowly you know whereas the next election we're very kind of narrow scope no long-term thinking what are the things that we can do this is a crucial point that mean that people's quality of life increases and also we don't wreck the planet i think that the balance there has been lost and we've lost that first part which is that it's a good thing that people travel more it's a good thing that people have more it's a good thing that on what why is that a good thing because working class people is take for example gretenberg um mentioned that was really down on the industrial revolution in a um i think it was a comment or a speech or something that she made recently and she said you know we've already proven that the that we're a terrible um enactment on the planet because we had the industrial revolution which was a terrible mistake or something like that and paraphrasing well i mean you know yes there are a lot of downsides to industrial revolution but if you look about an event like that in history which lifted people out of serfdom which brought an end to uh you know the feudal system which was progress in society which meant that you know was the birth of democratic movements of working-class consciousness all these things so you're basically saying that where we are now is worth it i'm saying that there is a lot to be celebrated about where we are now that that in particular and that's not we're arguing with that but what you're saying is that where we are now with development with consumption with all of the freedoms that we do have is worth it despite the climate crisis despite the continuing legacy of colonialism and imperialism and all of those systems and that have brought about this crisis now that haven't resulted in the freedoms and the enjoyments and the privileges for everyone i think you know we have to remember that there are lots of people living in this country who uh when you use the word privilege around them they don't really they can't relate to that but they and if you if we have this narrative that people are having too much that they're consuming too much i mean i tell you i know lots of people who they could consume people a lot more you know there is for lots of people there is a lot of consumption about those people it's the richest 10 of the world's population that produces 50 of lifestyle based emissions it's those people that need to produce their consumerism in order that the people in poverty can have what they need to survive and to have a better quality of life but progress isn't just about having more and more because that's not that's not making people happier i mean we have a mental health crisis we have a health crisis and inequality and and poverty and all these things can be solved if we start to live with more compassion and we share and we appreciate nature and not just in the name of progress consume more and more that the earth can't really can't and electrically i think i i can definitely understand because i feel like you are making about three different points of view within one um yeah we've been within one space of time um but i just want to go back to what you were saying about when we're talking about the fear of young people and you're talking about that doesn't mean that because they're scared and i say i don't know why we talk about young people as if we're not young i don't know i'm not going to ask you how old you are but i'm faithful you're pushing very you're pushing them we are all young people within this space definitely and i think so what i would like to ask you is when we talk about the fear of young people and the fact that now that's leading to everyone's saying let's stop driving let's stop you know let's put an end which i'm getting from you you feel like that's way too extreme and that's putting a pressure on human beings having to stop their lives don't you feel like it's the government's job and the people who are in charge to see the fear in the next generation that are going to run essentially run the country and actually cater to that because i think a lot of what tally is saying and amy is that it's not being catered to so i can understand that you you find that the extremist view of it and the the way it feels like an alarm is not helpful but at the same time what are the voices of us as young people how how should we feel about the fact that we're not being listened to does that make sense yeah it does make sense do you feel like we're being listened to do you feel like think more things could be done so we don't have to in a position where we have to say actually everyone throw your cars in the bin well which can't be done i think that i think that the you know if the government started catering to um children's fear we'd that would be a bad thing that's not not not so i'm not saying that the government needs to completely and you know forget everything else that they're working on ever young people are scared what can we do to help them i'm saying there needs to be some kind of movement some kind some something that tells young people that actually we do care about your future i don't think people would be sitting in the middle of the road if they felt like they were being listened to do you feel like the government is listening do you feel like they're doing something well it's i interestingly they kind of would look taken recent insulate britain protests i mean there's lots of them are of an older generation which is an interesting thing that there are lots of old people who are um who are involved in this movement so it's not completely a young person's thing although the school strikes has been you know one of the focus on points i'm going to ask you again do you feel like the government is doing something and listening to the young people i think not pandering to fear do you feel like they're doing something and listening i think the government wants looks wants to look like it is doing something and do you feel like they are doing something no i don't think they're doing anything in relation to seriously taking on board the challenge of uh climate change but also the challenge of how we're going to have sustainable energy source and we've got a national energy crisis on where gas bills are increasing by something like 400 percent the government's not burying its head in the sand in relation to that so i think they like to engage in a lot of empty words but there's no real discussion about it and so the reason why i asked that question specifically is because if they're not doing something i think at that point there has to be some understanding that then people are going to do something themselves and i think that's how we get here that's how we get to extremists that's how we get to people starting um charities at the age of 16 rather than going outside and running around and playing football like that's i think that's what has to be understood and it's not that i agree or disagree with extremists and and the alarmist sentence you say that you hear i think there just has to be that understanding from people that if you are saying my house is on fire and the person that's supposed to help you extinguish your house is not helping you're going to do something else in that moment yeah and i think that's where we got children having the audacity to speak up to adam i think young people being scared i have spoken to the top climate scientists in the world and they're terrified too absolutely and if we're all terrified then nothing happens i think we have to reclaim a sense of what people is happening anyway and you know i want the government to do something i want them to look at new energy sources to look at how we can be sustainable which you know we've lost the meaning of what the word sustainable means sustainable means a sense of future orientated things i think if we give in to this kind of panic or roll our eyes when people bring up you know disagreements around how we're dealing with climate change we'll never get anywhere i think we've got to be a little bit less down on humanity as a force for good in the in the world okay guys thank you so much for being here it's been an absolute pleasure to speak to you guys thank you for helping me take climate change off the table [Music] you

Channel: Good Morning Britain

Views: 13,562

Keywords: good morning britain, breakfast show, news, morning news, gmb, good morning britain interview, itv, susanna reid, Talk Shows - Topic, off the table, OTT, julie adenuga, cancel culture, youths debate, gmb debate, heated, heated debate, #fun, live, environmental activist, Ella Whelan, Talia Woodin, Amy Bray, charity founder, political commentator, climate change, greta thunberg

Id: yFkbEZb3nn8

Length: 17min 49sec (1069 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 05 2021