Greta Thunberg

Greta, a Swedish environmental activist born in January 2003, has been sitting outside the Swedish Parliament since 2018, holding a sign warning of the dangers of global warming and other environmental problems around the world. She has been hosted by most of the world’s most influential satellite channels and social media platforms, and engaged in direct debate with U.S. President Donald Trump during his first term on issues concerning climate and the environment, because everyone knows that President Trump does not believe in environmental issues, considering them non-existent to the extent that he nullified the effects of the Paris Climate Agreement after his predecessor, President Barack Obama, had approved it in 2015. I write this in the days following a serious event that led to the deaths of thousands in Nepal. Environmental issues are no longer an intellectual luxury practiced by some specialists behind closed doors, but a bitter reality that has led and will continue to lead to the deaths of thousands of people. From the tsunami in Thailand, Malaysia, and some other countries that killed more than 200,000 people, to the tsunami in Japan two years later, which also killed more than 20,000, and floods like those in Libya, Pakistan, and now in Nepal, experts warn of rising sea levels relative to land, which in turn increases the likelihood of floods and tsunamis. Meanwhile, we here distract ourselves with games like Padel, dance costumes, or other trivial matters. Greta Thunberg grew up in an advanced, civilized society that made her, from early childhood, feel a different sense of responsibility, even though she is an ordinary citizen with no special title. In contrast, in our Arab societies, we grow up following some trivial influencers whose interests do not extend beyond tracking what a fashionista eats, which restaurant she visits, what a blogger is doing, or which country he will spend his summer vacation in. It’s a problem beyond problems. Has the message been received? I hope so.