The sins of their fathers

If you start to see your kids walking out of school now and then, you might blame Greta Thunberg. Thunberg, 15 years old and from Sweden, gave a speech recently at the close of COP 24. She said the adults of this world are useless and care more about their own prosperity than they do their own children. She is not wrong.

There is an occasional article in the newspaper or letter to the editor regarding the growing effects of climate change and a need to do more to stop it.

Thunberg is wise beyond her years. One of her gems: “Our biosphere is being sacrificed so that rich people in countries like mine can live in luxury. It is the sufferings of the many which pay for the luxuries of the few.” Another no-holds-barred statement: “You say you love your children above all else, and yet you are stealing their future in front of their very eyes.”

The COP24 was set to construct the course of action for the recent Paris Climate Accords. Unfortunately, the United States sent a delegation that worked to undermine and sabotage the proceedings. I doubt few Americans would know this happened as the media is endlessly consumed with President Donald Trump’s many adventures.

But these events prompted me to consider the role of our president and how we ought to gauge his conduct on the job. The president takes the oath to “faithfully execute the office of president of the United States, and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” Not happening.

“To ourselves and our posterity,” and that is exactly the point that Thunberg is making. Folks, we aren’t doing enough, and we are not doing it fast enough.

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Patrick Hunter

Carbondale

via:: The Aspen Times