Greta Thunberg: 'How dare you? You have stolen my dreams and my childhood'

I had the same reaction when the German government revealed their insufficient measures as part of the &quot;Klimapaket&quot; (climate pact) last Friday. Scientists are recommending a tax of <i>180€</i> per ton of CO2 to achieve the necessary reduction in emissions. The German coalition government decides to introduce a <i>10€</i> CO2 tax. <i>How dare they</i>?

It&#x27;s interesting to see how some factions are now claiming that Greta is merely a puppet, following some hidden power&#x27;s agenda. That&#x27;s obviously nonsense. Listen to her! All she asks is that the politicians listen to the scientists.

Was her message to (failing to) act imply actual technical steps and commitment to reduce certain variables in certain years or increase taxes? I am confused here.<p><i>sarcasm</i> And yes, of course, global warming is the biggest existential threat to humanity. Poverty, hunger, addiction, homelessness, open defecation, and other trivial issues aren&#x27;t really the ones Governments&#x27; should prioritize, it should be protecting humpback whales and ecosystems! <i>sarcasm</i><p>Realize there are finite amount of resources any Government can direct towards any problem. If all attention and resources go to global warming (which is open ended problem as compared to poverty), then we will end up with disastrous consequences, both to humans and to the planet.

Just a quick question: why Greta is not talking about world overpopulation? I think it&#x27;s a huge problem. The more we are on this planet, the more mess we make. And by the way, it&#x27;s too easy to shame western countries to be the root of all evil in this world.

I think the people who have coerced her into being a propaganda piece are the ones who have stolen her childhood. It&#x27;s not like the earth is on fire right now. In fact, living conditions are better than they ever have been. There&#x27;s more food security worldwide than at any point in human history. Less war than ever. Less poverty than ever before.<p>Yes, climate change will cause issues. Then again, the last glacial maximum was fairly recent, only ~20k years ago. Climate change has happened and will happen. And the world won&#x27;t end. Either the Earth&#x27;s systems will adapt, or we&#x27;ll find a technological solution. Or maybe everyone will simply move to Canada, Russia, Greenland and Antarctica.<p>I&#x27;m all for solutions, but at the end of the day, people will keep on living and I suggest this girl do the same (then again, she&#x27;s probably being bankrolled by someone so maybe she is actually living her dreams).

There was a post on HN a week ago that was agreeing with some statements Greta made about climate change, it has flagged and removed. I don&#x27;t always agree with everything she says but found little objectionable about the article. Strange that it was taken down, it seems like HN does not respect any opinion unless it was mined by a block of cryptocurrency enthusiasts.

Unfortunately, we&#x27;ve built and set in motion a machine that we are no longer in control of, and there is very little we can do. Look at all the environmental damage and habitat destruction (our habitat) that went into this conference as an example.