By Mèabh Mackenzie, Amnesty International UK Ambassador of Conscience
MY name is Méabh Mackenzie, I am 12 years old and I am one of the millions of youth climate strikers who have been inspired by Greta Thunberg to stand up and say we must take action on climate change.
I didn’t set out to become an activist or a striker; I just love nature and the world around me and want to protect it for my generation and all of the future children who should be able to grow up in an unpolluted environment. When I saw Greta in the paper saying she was striking for the climate, I knew I had to find a way to be a part of this movement because I had recently been learning about the worrying levels of erosion in the Western Isles.
When I started this work, I was 11 and some people said I was too young to worry about the environment but if we don’t, who will? I soon found school friends who were also passionate about protecting our natural world and calling on the Scottish and UK Governments to do more, to take more meaningful action to safeguard our future.
Until recently, I was living in South Uist, which is very low lying; it really wouldn’t take much erosion to cause catastrophic damage to the islands. I was inspired to raise awareness about the climate crisis because I was living on a remote island that could disappear in the next 100 years. This is not only a terrible shame because it is such a beautiful island – there are steps that can be taken to prevent erosion. Rising sea levels will have terrible consequences for the Western Isles and other island communities all across the world. We need governments and lawmakers to act now while we still have time and reduce greenhouse gas emissions that will help slow down rising sea levels. In Scotland, we need our Government to monitor coastal erosions and for these Islands especially to build better flood defences.
We are fighting for everyone. For you.
For the people living in areas of the world that are already suffering the consequences from the first stages of the climate and ecological emergency.
People who breathe toxic air, who drink contaminated water, who have to flee their homes because of climate and environmental-related disasters.
Indigenous communities whose lands and waters are being destroyed. People whose food and water supply is being threatened by environmental-related catastrophes, stronger and more frequent droughts, rainfalls, storms, or melting glaciers. Whole nations are now literally being left in ruins or disappearing underneath rising sea levels.
People are dying. And yet, so many of us keep looking away. Some adults, politicians and governments have already given up before we have even started.
The world has never seen a threat to human rights of this scope. So said the United Nations Rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, recently during the UN Human Rights council in Geneva, referring to the climate crisis.
The call for urgent climate action is no longer one girl’s fight. Thanks to Greta Thunberg and the Fridays For Future movement who are standing up to those in power to ensure we have a tomorrow. This week of global action will end with a climate strike on Friday 27 September. I challenge everyone reading; do you want to stand up and help make the world a better, more liveable place for current and future generations or do you want to stand by and watch as the Earth dies around us?
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