We organized the first ‘Yeşil Ev’ event on March 15 with Ömer Madra, Editor-in-Chief of Açık Radio. That day, there were 1.5 million climate change activist children on the streets total in 125 countries and 2083 centers around the world. Kids from Turkey were also on the streets for the protest from 11 cities. 11-year-old Atlas Sarrafoğlu, who made the first call for March 15 in İstanbul, was in Yeşil Ev for the interview.
After Ömer Madra’s opening speech by briefly explaining what happened on March 15th, Atlas told us his story about the school strike for the climate change. He was pleased the participation of protest and it was the first time that he encountered most students there.
The good news of the day for Madra; scientists approved of these children’s actions and find it appropriate for science. The main goal of Atlas and his friends is to influence decision makers.
Madra continued his words by explaining ‘Extinction Rebellion’. That movement is keep saying that ‘we will not have a chance to prevent disaster..’. The research of the United Nations at the North Pole is that the thirty years until 2050 will raise the temperature by 3 to 5 degrees. 9 degrees is known to increase in 2080 and in that year Atlas will be even younger than Ömer Madra’s current age. This means that very few species can survive. There is no point in dealing with the laws of physics. Extinction Rebellion’s starting point is that extinction.
‘I’m not more hopeful than I have started, carbon emissions are increasing’ Greta Thunberg said in an interview with The Guardian this week. Today, those gathered in Bebek Park, Berlin, and those in Sweden are actually gathering to solve this problem. In another Thunbergs’s interview, she responds to a provocative question such as ‘Are you taking action to save yourself?’ by answering that ‘No, i’m taking action for you’. Children are saying ‘This has begun and cannot be stopped. Whether you like it or not, we start to do what you can’t do’ and as an adults, we should go after these children. Extinction Rebellion has a call on April 15th and the truth is that’s not gonna end here.
Madra recalled the social contract with Hedges’ quotes in the context of the need for the establishment of a committee of committees. Even though the result of the climate action today is not enough, but still it is worth it Hedges says.
Moderator Bahar explained the story of Rüya, who sent a picture of the climate that she had drawn up for the campaign ‘the picture of climate’ which is an example of creative action that week. Rüya is a 9 year old-girl who preoccupy with the climate change. She wanted to be a president before heard about Greta, because she was thinking that if she was a president, she could do something for the climate crisis. But she learnt from Greta that things not working like that. She found there were other ways/hopes.
Later, 11-year-old climate activist Atlas Sarrafoğlu read the statement that he read in the Bebek Park once again for the participants. They did school strike and according to his text, school can wait but climate change can’t. Atlas said that they were lucky to get out today and that we couldn’t be here if there were floods or even bigger catastrophe. He said that they haven’t caused that kind of catastrophes but it directly affects them. Atlas who is gonna be 23 in 12 years, asked a questions of what he could do in a world he knew he would get worse at that age. Atlas finished his speech by asking ‘if we don’t act, who does? If it’s not now, when?’
The last point was the nomination of Greta Thunberg for the Nobel Peace Prize. Greta’s silent and steady action, which began with civil disobedience, sitting at the maximum legal distance that could be near to the parliament, spread with the participation of other students on 6th week. People asked to Greta that how didn’t she lose her interest in that period and she answered by saying ‘this is my future, my business’. Ömer Madra ended his speech by saying that Greta deserved it in any way with such peaceful methods coping with that kind of crisis.