Transcriber: Gord Palameta Reviewer: Hani Eldalees
We are 100 seconds away from midnight, or doomsday,
according to the Doomsday Clock by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.
Humanity is facing two existential dangers at the same time:
climate change and nuclear conflict.
Since the creation of the clock in 1947,
this is the closest we’ve been to catastrophe,
to the gravest perils facing humanity.
Hi, my name is Yun-Tzu Lin.
I’m here today to talk about why young people have the responsibility
and the power to reverse the Doomsday Clock.
Does this come across as exaggerated, emotional or alarmist?
Maybe a little.
But that is the point.
The clock reminds us not to grow complacent
as the climate and nuclear relations deteriorate rapidly.
After all, these two seemingly unrelated terms
share the potential to devastate our futures.
First, climate change.
The fact that the Earth has been warming at an alarming rate due to human activity,
is probably old news to you.
These rising temperatures are fueling the number
and severity of natural disasters right now.
From the typhoons in Japan, where I live,
to the wildfires rippling across California, Australia and the Amazon.
Moving forward, the cascading effects of climate change
will exacerbate a wider range of social issues
like food security and environmental refugees.
Global warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels
is emphasized by researchers and global agreements as the threshold
where the impacts of climate change go from destructive to catastrophic,
redeemable to irreversible.
Under current emission trends,
the UN IPCC predicts we will reach that between 2030 and 2052.
Next, nuclear weapons.
Their first deployment on Hiroshima and Nagasaki 75 years ago
leveled the two cities,
killed hundreds of thousands instantly, and scarred generations to come
with the lasting effects of radiation.
Since then, countries with nuclear weapons
have continued to justify their possession with deterrence theory.
Its logic basically boils down to this:
to stop my enemy from attacking me, I should own the bigger, scarier stick.
As a result, attempts at nuclear disarmament since then
have decreased the number,
but not the sophistication or lethality of nuclear weapons.
Today, a single deployment could unleash hundreds of millions of instant casualties
and a nuclear winter spanning decades.
And yet historically, we have seen a number of near misses,
such as during the Cuban Missile Crisis,
where we often avoided the use of nuclear weapons due to just sheer dumb luck.
So, to sum up, climate change that could devastate the planet is underway.
A nuclear conflict that could end civilization is a real possibility.
And yet, on a large scale,
we show no signs of changing these capabilities and modes of thinking
that are launching us onto the path of inevitable destruction.
Does this fill you with a sense of urgency?
Do you feel the need to do something, anything, to deal with what’s coming?
Indeed, it is abnormal to not want to resist these crises barreling our way.
Furthermore, as long as you respect science and rationality,
you have to recognize that climate change
and nuclear weapons are both manmade problems.
Manmade problems should have manmade solutions.
Then the question facing us is no longer: Why should I get involved in the solution?
But instead: Why shouldn’t I?
So why aren’t we?
On the individual level, it is a bit tricky
to reconcile the sheer magnitude of the problem with you and me.
Here’s one way of looking at this.
I am 16 years old right now.
For the past decade and a half, society has been feeding me, clothing me,
and educating me, while I have contributed practically nothing in return.
What gives me the audacity, the ability, to demand society to change?
And this brings me to one of the biggest misconceptions I’ve come across:
that young people don’t have the power to enact societal change.
I'm going to show you exactly why that's wrong.
I attended my first Fridays for Future climate strike in September 2019
with a few friends, more out of curiosity than anything.
By the end of the strike,
my throat was hoarse, my bag was ripped, and my poster was crumpled.
And yet this confusing, chaotic and exhausting strike
was the first drop that sent ripples through me.
Going home, I was inspired to research more into this climate crisis
that had 300 students in my city and millions more from around the world
give up a Friday afternoon for.
Then I joined the local Fridays for Future chapter.
We started off simply, just standing on the streets
on Friday afternoons with signs and banners
to talk to the people passing by.
We asked them if they knew about
the connections between global warming and the extreme heat we were feeling.
We asked if they knew that
even though the government had pledged to go carbon neutral by 2050,
it had just approved new plans for coal-fired power plants in our very city.
We hosted documentary screenings, passed out pamphlets, and organized more strikes.
These efforts were like rolling a snowball,
as we gradually attracted more interest and participants.
In a matter of months,
this provided us with a platform to engage directly with policymakers.
We met with people like the city mayor and the Minister of the Environment
to request stronger climate policies.
I’m also working as one of 25 twenty-third generation high school peace ambassadors
from across Japan.
For more than two decades,
generations of peace ambassadors have collected over two million signatures,
calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons.
Each year, ambassadors have delivered them to the UN office at Geneva
to be preserved permanently.
This year, I help preserve the stories of aging atomic bomb survivors.
Together, we wrote letters to country embassies in Japan,
imploring them to sign and ratify
the latest UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons,
and we receive replies.
Historically, activism has had a powerful effect
in shaping the dialogue on nuclear weapons.
Massive social opposition against them in the 1980s, for example,
which included a nuclear freeze rally in New York City
with over a million participants,
led to the establishment of landmark treaties on nuclear disarmament.
When powerful figures make decisions
that hinder my generation’s right to a fair and sustainable world,
youth grassroot movements like mine respond.
We respond with strikes, petitions, rallies, lawsuits, open letters and more.
Young people are more than just children, bystanders or students.
From gun violence to gender inequality to racism,
we have always wielded tremendous social and political influence
if we coalesced our efforts.
The same can be true right now as we face existential climate and nuclear threats.
Now, I used to have the next few stages of my life planned out.
I was going to study and work hard every single day to get into a good high school,
to get into a good university, to get a good job, to get a good life.
Fun, right?
Growing up, this line of thinking
was mirrored in the people my age all around me.
So here we all are... dedicating hundreds, if not thousands, of hours
towards entrance exams, college application prep,
and a future that seems like it’s brimming with hope and opportunity.
Doesn’t it make sense to spend even a fraction of that time
thinking and acting on existential threats to this future?
Because while the Doomsday Clock may be hypothetical,
the threats it represents are not.
You don’t have to be an atomic bomb survivor or a nature lover
to feel strongly about the joint survival of humanity.
You and me, we have got the responsibility and the power
to tackle the serious, credible threats of climate change and nuclear weapons
with everything we’ve got.
Thank you.