16-yr-old Greta Thunberg to world leaders:'How dare you? you have stolen my dreams and my childhood'
United Nations, Sep 24: Scolded for doing little, leader after leader promised the United Nations on Monday to do more to prevent a warming world from reaching even more dangerous levels.
As they made their pledges at the Climate Action Summit, though, they and others conceded it was not enough. And even before they spoke, teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg shamed them over and over for their inaction: "How dare you?"
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres concluded the summit by listing 77 countries that committed to carbon neutrality by 2050, 70 nations pledging to do more to fight climate change, with 100 business leaders promising to join the green economy and one-third of the global banking sector signing up to green goals.
"Action by action, the tide is turning," he said. "But we have a long way to go."
Businesses and charities also got in on the act, at times even going bigger than major nations.
Microsoft founder Bill Gates announced Monday that his foundation, along with The World Bank and some European governments, would provide USD 790 million in financial help to 300 million of the world's small farmers adapt to climate change. The Gates foundation pledged USD 310 million of that.
"The world can still prevent the absolute worst effects of climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and developing new technologies and sources of energy," Gates said. "But the effects of rising temperatures are already under way."
As the day went on Monday and the promises kept coming, the United States seemed out in the cold.
Before world leaders made their promises in three-minute speeches, the 16-year-old Thunberg gave an emotional appeal in which she scolded the leaders with her repeated phrase, "How dare you." "This is all wrong. I shouldn't be up here," said Thunberg, who began a lone protest outside the Swedish parliament more than a year ago that culminated in Friday's global climate strikes.
"I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you have come to us young people for hope. How dare you. You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words."
"We are in the beginning of a mass extinction and yet all you can talk about is money," Thunberg said. "You are failing us." Later, she and 15 other youth activists filed a formal complaint with an arm of the U.N. that protects children, saying that governments' lack of action on warming is violating their basic rights.
US President Donald Trump mocked Thunberg on Twitter, writing: "She seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future. So nice to see!"
Outside experts say they heard a lot of talk Monday but not the promised action needed to keep warming to a few tenths of a degree. They say it won't produce the dramatic changes the world requires.
"Sometimes I feel that Greta is still out in front of the Swedish parliament out on her own," said Stanford University's Rob Jackson, who chairs the Global Carbon Project, which targets carbon emissions across the world.
Bill Hare, who follows national emissions and promises for Climate Action Tracker, called what was said "deeply disappointing" and not adding up to much.
"The ball they are moving forward is a ball of promises," said economist John Reilly, co-director of MIT's Joint Center for Global Change.
"Where the 'ball' of actual accomplishments is, is another question." Of all the countries that came up short, World Resources Institute Vice President Helen Mountford said one stood out: the United States for "not coming to the table and engaging."
"What we've seen so far is not the kind of climate leadership we need from the major economies," Mountford said. She did say, however, that businesses, as well as small- and medium-sized countries had "exciting initiatives."
Nations such as Finland and Germany promised to ban coal within a decade.
Several also mentioned goals of climate neutrality when a country is not adding more heat-trapping carbon to the air than is being removed by plants and perhaps technology by 2050.
Trump dropped by the summit, listened to German Chancellor Angela Merkel make detailed pledges including going coal-free and left without saying anything.
The United States did not ask to speak at the summit, UN officials said. And Guterres had told countries they couldn't be on the agenda without making bold new proposals.
Even though there was no speech by Trump who has denied climate change, called it a Chinese hoax and repealed U.S. carbon-reduction policies he was talked about.
In a jibe at Trump's plans to withdraw the United States from the 2015 Paris climate agreement, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said countries "must honor our commitments and follow through on the Paris Agreement."
Watch | "How dare you?": 16-year-old #GretaThunberg thunders at UN #ClimateActionSummit
— NDTV (@ndtv) September 23, 2019
Read more here: https://t.co/vtzGYVVljC pic.twitter.com/NdIBMnDosj
If looks could kill. Greta Thunberg is NOT a Trump fan #HowDareYou pic.twitter.com/BeNk8oMkHe
— Rich Wolfenden (@_Wolfenden) September 24, 2019
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Two Delhi men held for BMTC bus phone thefts in Bengaluru
Bengaluru: Whitefield police have arrested two men from Delhi for allegedly stealing mobile phones from passengers travelling in Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) buses and solved 14 theft cases, officials said on Tuesday.
The arrested accused have been identified as Jai Chand (25), who worked at a hotel in Delhi, and Tarun (34), an autorickshaw driver in Delhi.
Officials said on January 24, a Mahadevapura resident lodged a complaint that his iPhone 15 Plus was stolen while he was travelling on a BMTC bus towards Whitefield.
Based on the complaint, police registered a case and arrested two suspects within an hour near a lodge on Hosa Road. During the arrest, the police found a bag containing several stolen mobile phones.
ALSO READ: Two college dropouts held with drugs worth Rs 10 crore in Bengaluru
“During interrogation, the suspects confessed that they were stealing mobile phones from passengers travelling in BMTC buses. They had also committed thefts during a concert held under the Channarayapatna police station limits on January 23,” the police said.
Investigations revealed that the accused had travelled from Delhi for the concert and stolen mobile phones from the audience. A third suspect is at large and is likely hiding in the Shahdara area of Delhi.
One of the victims, a YouTuber, raised the theft issue in February in a post on X.
“Here is my (FIR No 0013/2026 is registered in Channarayapatana PS. Your GSC No. is PO1814260100013) request @DelhiPolice @BlrCityPolice to plz look into this & get my device back since it's my work phone & I am a youtuber, all my data is there! someone plz help. @dcpwhitefield,” Anirban Sarkar posted on X on February 6.
Police have recovered 14 mobile phones of various brands, collectively valued at about Rs 9 lakh, from the accused. The two were produced before the court and remanded in judicial custody.
In total, one case from Whitefield and 13 from Channarayapatna police stations were detected. Further investigation is underway.
