Clean up your mess, young activists tell leaders at COP26 climate summit

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Thousands of mostly young protesters gathered at a Fridays For Future rally in Glasgow, Scotland, the host city for the COP26 U.N. climate talks. The protest was part of a series of demonstrations being staged around the world Friday and Saturday.

Alberto Pezzali/AP

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Alberto Pezzali/AP

The COP26 summit
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There are more young people than ever roaming the halls at the talks. That’s in addition to the thousands of mostly young protesters carrying signs outside at a Fridays For Future rally some blocks from the fenced-off pavilion. Young people are being seen and celebrated in Glasgow. But they fear they’re not being heard.

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Some climate activists at Friday’s rally accused negotiators in Scotland of «greenwashing» their country’s failure to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

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Andrew Milligan/AP

The COP26 summit
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«When I arrived at COP26, I could only see white middle-aged men in suits,» Magali Cho Lin Wing, 17, a member of the UNICEF UK Youth Advisory Board, said at a press event. «And I thought, ‘hold on is this a climate conference or some corporate event?’ Is this what you came for? To swap business cards?»

Still, they know it’s important to be at least near the room where it all happens.

«It’s my life,» Horchos said. «Its definitely my responsibility to step up.»

Outside the negotiations, the worry about the future was the same, but the way it expressed was different.

At Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Park, mostly young activists carried banners with slogans such as «I have to clear up my mess, why don’t you clear up yours?» and «Stop climate crimes.»

The protest was part of a series of demonstrations being staged around the world Friday and Saturday, to coincide with the talks in Scotland

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A display highlighting threats to the environment and mocking climate leaders’ talks was set up in the center of of Glasgow, Scotland, as activists marched through the streets on Friday.

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A display highlighting threats to the environment and mocking climate leaders’ talks was set up in the center of of Glasgow, Scotland, as activists marched through the streets on Friday.

Jon Super/AP

Some at the rally accused negotiators of «greenwashing» their country’s failure to curb greenhouse gas emissions by trumpeting policies that sound good but won’t do enough to prevent dangerous temperature rises in the coming decades.

«We are here as civil society to send them a message that ‘enough is enough,'» said Valentina Ruas, an 18-year-old student from Brazil.

Brianna Fruean, a 23-year-old activist from Samoa, a low-lying Pacific island nation that is particularly vulnerable to rising sea levels and cyclones, said: «My biggest fear is losing my country.»

«I’ve seen the floods go into our homes, and I’ve scooped out the mud,» she said.

Fruean was given the stage at the beginning of the conference, known as COP26, where she told leaders about the effects of climate change already being felt in her country.

«I feel like I’m being seen,» she said. «I will know if I’ve been heard by the end of COP.»