New Zealand can't rely on new technology to save us from climate change, one of the leaders of the School Strike 4 Climate says.
Sophie Handford told The AM Show she doesn't agree with host Duncan Garner when he says new technology will help ease the burden of pollution.
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Garner brought up the idea of concrete that sucks carbon dioxide from the air, saying perhaps innovations like that could help reduce warming.
"We can't wait for the technology to come our way when, as Greta says... we know exactly what we need to do and that's to reduce emissions," Handford said.
"If we're continuing to wait for technology which might not come, in order to reduce our emissions to the level that we need, then we're potentially pulling the futures away from so many of the younger generations and those to come."
Handford's fellow protest organiser, Luke Wijohn, was more succinct in his response to Garner's suggestion.
"There are other things that suck in carbon dioxide, they're called trees," he said.
Both organisers supported their fellow teen climate activist Greta Thunberg, who has been criticised for being too over the top in her recent appearance at the United Nations Climate Action Summit.
"We're basically looking at the death of our generation, that's what we're fighting for it's our own lives now," Wijohn said.
"So if I get emotional, [or] Greta gets emotional while trying to fight for our lives when we're saying we want a future, while some people are saying 'no', that makes me emotional."
Handford agreed and said Thunberg has managed to communicate the fear many people her age are feeling.
"How she can speak to world leaders and actually say 'how dare you', that's actually some of the stuff I feel every day, I feel fearful and I feel so angry...
"I think she has not gone overboard, I think the opposite. That [speech] has inspired so many people to be really courageous in the way that they talk about climate change."
Newshub.
