Aaj English TV

Sunday, October 13, 2024  
09 Rabi Al-Akhar 1446  

Highlighting Pakistan’s flood woes, Greta Thunberg says Swedish politicians ignoring climate crisis

Scandinavian activist says politicians treating climate as a distant problem
Climate activist Greta Thunberg speaks on the Pyramid stage at Worthy Farm in Somerset during the Glastonbury Festival in Britain, June 25. Reuters/File
Climate activist Greta Thunberg speaks on the Pyramid stage at Worthy Farm in Somerset during the Glastonbury Festival in Britain, June 25. Reuters/File

STOCKHOLM: Sweden’s politicians are ignoring the climate crisis in the run up to the election on Sept. 11 and treating it as if it were just a problem rather than a life or death threat, activist Greta Thunberg said.

The war in Ukraine and the ongoing energy crisis, which has seen power prices soar, are dominating the headlines with just a week to go before the vote while welfare, schools and gang crime also head the list of voter concerns.

Thunberg, whose Friday protests outside Sweden’s parliament years ago turned into a global youth movement demanding action on climate change, said the issue had been “pretty much non existent”, during the campaign.

“We have been completely focusing on other things,” she told Reuters.

She said politicians and the media had “chosen not to communicate that so many of the crises that we are experiencing now are very closely interlinked”.

“Therefore, people of course only focus on things that are right ahead of them instead of actually focusing on the larger holistic picture,” she said.

She said politicians were treating the climate as a distant problem.

“Just take Pakistan now, as an example, a very clear example,” she said.

Record monsoon rains and melting glaciers in Pakistan’s northern mountains have brought floods that have affected 33 million people and killed at least 1,290, including 453 children.

“We focus on the climate when we have time to spare, it feels like,” Thunberg said. “It’s something that yes, it’s a problem and not an existential emergency that affects all other issues as it should be.”

For the latest news, follow us on Twitter @Aaj_Urdu. We are also on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

Pakistan

Rain

floods

climate crisis

Sweden

pakistan floods

Stockholm

Greta Thunberg