From Michael John Scott at MadMikesAmerica:
Despite the growing body of evidence supporting the fact that climate change is having widespread health impacts, not everyone cheered for the thousands of school children striking against climate change.
Democratic senator Dianne Feinstein accused them of “my way or the highway” thinking, a statement that should have embarrassed her fellow Democrats in its very antiquity. It wasn’t just Americans who were critical, however, German Liberal Democrats leader Christian Lindner said that the protesters don’t yet understand “what’s technically and economically possible,” and should leave that to experts instead. The UK’s now former prime minister, Theresa May, even criticized the strikers for “wasting lesson time.”
These criticisms share a common accusation – that the striking children, while well-intentioned, are behaving counter-productively.
Nevertheless, it is true that there are economic, infrastructural, political, and other practical realities that many people (especially young people) either do not understand or, believing precisely in “my way or the highway,” refuse to acknowledge. They do not go away simply because we want or even need them to do so. In fact, ignoring them can set us back even further.
This really should not be controversial. We see it all the time.