Over 1M Global Climate Protesters to Hit the Streets

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The Facts

  • From Pakistan and Nigeria to the US, more than 1M climate protesters across over 50 countries are expected to hit the streets this weekend to demand governments phase out fossil fuel burning.

  • The Sept. 15-17 "Global Fight to End Fossil Fuels" protests — held by mostly youth-led local and global climate groups like Greta Thunberg's Friday's for Future movement — are planned ahead of the UN's Climate Ambition Summit next week.


The Spin

Narrative A

When will enough be enough? Global temperatures are rapidly rising toward the 1.5°C and 2°C benchmark, resulting in historic heatwaves, droughts, and floods. As the Earth warms and the climate becomes more unpredictable, every citizen of the globe — the poor and marginalized, in particular — will have their lives upended. Everyone must strike against the root cause of climate change: the burning of fossil fuels.

Narrative B

While climate change is real, the hyperbolic speech of activists has caused severe psychological damage to the same youth they claim to be fighting for. By brainwashing an entire generation to believe that every thunderstorm is the result of burning fossil fuels, they've scared these adolescents into never wanting to have children of their own. Maybe we should start offering positive solutions rather than doomsday everyday propaganda.


Metaculus Prediction


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