India’s swashbuckling opening batsman Rohit Sharma described climate activist Greta Thunberg as 'an inspiration' on Tuesday. He contended that it was unfair to leave the task of saving the Earth to the younger generation. Sharma opined that there were no excuses left now. Maintaining that the future generation deserved a safer planet, he stated that the time for change had arrived.

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'Fairytale of eternal economic growth'

Thunberg is a Swedish environmental activist, who has been featured on the cover of Time magazine in May 2019, besides appearing in a 30-minute documentary titled 'Make The World Greta Again'. Speaking at the UN Climate Action Summit on Monday, she said that something very wrong was happening, while adding that she should not have been present in the first place. Admonishing the delegates for reaching out to young people for help, she maintained that she would have been better off studying in her school. Thunberg alleged that the world leaders had stolen the dreams and childhood of the younger generation with mere rhetoric. She maintained that not only were people suffering and dying, but also entire ecosystems were collapsing.  

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‘You are still not mature’ 

Reckoning that this was the beginning of mass extinction, she accused the global policymakers of focusing on money and “fairytales of eternal economic growth”. According to her, while science has been crystal clear for 30 years, there was no solution in sight. Thunberg opined that the popular idea of cutting our emissions in half, over 10 years gave us a 50% chance, which was not acceptable. She observed that the remaining CO2 budget would be gone within less than 8 and a half years. Slamming the maturity of the policymakers in the world, the climate activist stated that the young people had begun to understand this betrayal. Thunberg reminded the delegates that the new generation looked upon them for taking decisive action. At the same time, she warned them that they would not not be allowed to get away with business as usual.  

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