As a former School Strike 4 Climate organiser, I am all too familiar with ridicule. But this interview surprised me
Monday, 26 September 2022
Mia Sutherland is an advocate and activist across a range of youth issues, from Christchurch. She is currently taking a break from university study and working in Britain.
OPINION: As a former School Strike 4 Climate organiser, I am all too familiar with the ridicule and aggression channelled at school students from fully grown adults. However, the recent interview conducted by Heather du Plessis-Allan with 16-year-old strike organiser Izzy Cook even caught me off guard.
In the interview, the Newstalk ZB host asked about air travel and brought up the fact that Cook had recently travelled to Fiji.
A combination of du Plessis-Allan’s tone and the derailing of the topic infuriated me. It threw me back to three years ago, when I was dealing with something very similar. And actually, I still deal with it today.
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Some adults will just never take students seriously. Their short-sightedness is a flaw only they can front up to and change, but unfortunately, not many of them want or care to.
While I was organising strikes in 2019 I was shocked at the ways people attacked me.
While I was writing a fortnightly column for Stuff I was subject to hundreds of comments on social media taunting me, which was to be expected. I knew it was coming, I could deal with it and that’s not what this is about.
What I didn’t expect were sexually charged comments, discussions on my body and physical appearance, and judgments on my mental health.
In one, a man decided it was appropriate to say “Girl doesn’t even have hair down there and thinks she is able to ‘speak the truth’…”. I mean taking the comment beyond the climate crisis denial, why does my p…. come into this?
Bear in mind, I was 17/18 over the years I was receiving these comments. They can be described as nothing less than perverted and disgusting. It’s one thing to disagree with me, I can take that, but discussing my pubic hair is a whole other ballpark.
In another, another man diagnosed me with “earthquake-related PTSD” because of my concerns about becoming a mother during the climate crisis. Due to the same article, another commentator decided it was appropriate to say “better keep ur legs closed hehe”.
Gross.
That’s not even getting to the private messages. I was told I was a “feminist Nazi” and that I’d do everyone good if I jumped off a bridge. Sorry to keep bringing it up… but I was 17!
To add to that, I often dealt with the same pushback Izzy encountered in her interview on Newstalk ZB. Questions about my own lifestyle choices and what I was doing to combat the climate crisis personally. In one comment, I was told “the phone needs to go, the clothes as well… your already failing [sic]”.
Initially, I had a plethora of points to make - I am vegetarian, I mend my clothing, I only buy second-hand, I don’t drive, I buy food in bulk, etc. But questions and answers like these undermine the whole point of the school strikes: to drive systemic change.
At the end of the day, it’s governments and business leaders who can actually make a difference. At the time I was guilty every time I drank whole milk or bought a new item of clothing or, like Izzy, had a family holiday. It was on my mind constantly, and of course the comments on social media and in real life reminded me I was never doing enough.
I wish any of my actions to reduce my carbon footprint actually measured up to something. But unfortunately, compared to the big players in carbon emissions, they don’t. For every flight I omit to take, a celebrity is hopping on their private jet for the 170th time this year.
This is not a matter of stopping taking flights, it’s a matter of stopping the prioritising of money over the planet.
This interview has only confirmed to me that the sentiments communicated to me by commenters three years ago are still alive and well. I had hoped things would be different. That was naive of me, as many of you are probably thinking. Climate action is a power struggle, and those in power will always fight back.
Strikers, I’m sorry that some in power, in the media, and some people around you, keep letting you down. It’s a really hard journey - trust me, I remember it. It’ll make you doubt yourselves, but that’s exactly what they want. Keep going.
There are going to be a lot of people (mainly adults) trying to drag you down. Maybe they’ll even mention your pubic hair (I hope not). One day, if you don’t already, you’re going to realise that they’re deluded and narrow-minded. And probably, deep down, feeling guilty that they don’t have half the guts you do to stand up for the planet.
To quote a woman who always kept my head up; “if no-one disagrees with you, then you aren’t pushing hard enough. Push hard. Your mahi is so important.”
Keep pushing, I am so proud of you and the battle you continue to fight. Kia kaha.