July 7, 2021

Special to BuzzFlash by Spenser Seddon

In view of recent news and events, this week it seems especially important to speak up about the global climate crisis – that ever-faster-moving catastrophe that so many seem keen to ignore, even as it continues to creep into our day-to-day routines and lived experience. As one way of speaking up, we want to recognize the ongoing efforts and activism of Greta Thunberg in awarding her this week’s BuzzFlash “Wings of Justice” – seeing Thunberg as both a heartening example of what an individual can accomplish and, more importantly, as being a representative part of a broad collective movement striving to address the existential crisis staring us all in the face.

Beginning with her bold personal Skolstrejk för klimatet (“School Strike for Climate”) in Sweden in 2018, Greta Thunberg has admirably managed ever since to persistently talk up and direct public attention to the concerns of the global climate crisis. Helping to develop and build out the “Fridays for Future” school strike coalition with the aid of social media buzz and her compelling speeches, Thunberg has seen her profile and influence explode to positive effect, and yet she’s continued to stay focused, humble, and morally grounded. Undistracted by detractors’ cruel commentary or the hollow allure of celebrity, Thunberg is committed to the critical question and task at hand: what we’re doing about the climate crisis, and striving to ensure that it’s enough (eventually, hopefully) to meet the challenges ahead.

Thunberg’s rhetoric – unsparing, direct, honest and earnest – is to be commended, cutting through nonsense and pretense, getting right to the heart of things with the urgency demanded by our circumstances. If her words ever make people uncomfortable, those people are likely the ones with misdeeds to answer for or misconceptions to confront. Knowing that the science on climate change is settled and robust, the only question that really matters now is what we’re doing about it, as Thunberg has pointed out time and again. For all these reasons, and for demonstrating that anyone can just as capably take a stand and speak up too, Thunberg commands our respect and gratitude as well as our solidarity in joining up to help save the planet.

Ultimately, the notion of Thunberg as a representative example of what we’re all each potentially capable of seems one of the most compelling takeaways from her story. It’s a powerful notion, by turns hopeful and disconcerting, because it begs the question of each of us: what kind of (climate) future is in store for me, and what am I doing to help address it? Grappling with a phenomenon that’s often difficult to discern, it makes a certain kind of sense that people try to ignore the crisis or evade responsibility – but the thing is, we’re past the time now where that’s feasible or acceptable. Encountering problems that manifest in more extreme forms all the time – heat waves, recurrent droughts, expansive wildfires, higher-intensity storms, rising seas – we’re moving steadily into uncharted and ever more inhospitable territory, with conditions exacerbated by the climate crisis and increasingly impossible to ignore. With every passing year, more and more lives are at risk and on the line.

In the face of our “new normal” and an uncertain climate future, then, the question of what we can do individually and collectively to address it ought to (and likely will) stay front of mind. Will we take a cue from Thunberg and act boldly and in solidarity to meet the challenge in earnest? Can we be honest enough with ourselves to acknowledge the seriousness and scale of the situation and respond accordingly? In view of our history of a global capitalist hegemony – with its narrow interpretive lens and sense of value – can we change our ways sufficiently to overcome and adapt the cultural and economic logics that have landed us here?

There’s only one way to find out. The climate crisis provides for a unique imperative and opportunity to change our ways and our outlook, but it’s up to all of us to actually make that happen. Greta Thunberg has helped assert that urgent call to collective action that we all can and should heed – in the streets, at the ballot box, with our wallets, and with how we engage with one another and our shared home. If ever there was a reason to unify and organize for change, this is it.

Spenser Seddon is a writer, editor, and marketing & communications professional based in Seattle.

BuzzFlash is once again honoring upstanding & outstanding people with our Wings of Justice recognition! Read the full collection of recent honorees here, and peruse selections archived from our original website here.

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