Climate change, change and our children

Everything gets me thinking, well from time to time at least. The thinking that is, it does happen on occasions and some of my thoughts wander off to thinking all kinds of stuff. Yup just stuff.
Can I say it is my opinion? I wonder about that too. I may not even have an opinion, just some thinking that I feel is best shared with you, to provoke a thought within you or give pause to an idea, a concept if you like.

I have noticed there is a big push in the school children to make nice peaceful protests or demonstrations against governments and the question being all about the topic of "climate change". It is a great idea and a fantastic way to spread the concept of "hey do something about climate change" save the planet for our children, yes I get that. It is also a great teaching to allow our children of today to have a say in their own future and the future of the planet that they are inheriting. Future progress in industry definitely points to a need for change.
Industries where once upon a time electric cars and energy saving light bulbs were never thought to be possible or were they?

They is a great documentary on "planned obsolescence" I wonder have any of you ever seen it. The documentary brings about a whole insight to a theory of how the light bulb manufacturers a hundred years ago or more made a pact with each other "that should any manufacturer break the rules they would be out" what were the rules?
The rule they could not break is that they could not manufacture a light bulb that would shine for more than an agreed upon number of hours.
They all knew they could make light bulbs that could shine for thousands of hours. But wait, they thought, if we do that, we will never have new business and so we will put ourselves out of business. In the documentary they discuss how they manufacturers "minutes" from their meetings were discovered and many many years ago they knew they had to make their product only have a certain life span or they would become defunct "out of business" so the pact was formed and made between them all. Here lies the idea that all companies followed this idea so as to remain in business. So, my question would be that why only now are we finding such things as energy efficient light bulbs etc etc as measures to reduce carbon footprints and bring into effect efforts to do something about climate change?

What is a touch more worrying as I wonder about the demonstrations though not a huge political fire being ignited in the youth of today, though the peaceful protests are definitely being the lessons learned, why not encourage children to demonstrate perhaps over some smaller goals. So called "achievable goals"
Climate change even sounds weird.
What can a child understand about climate change? A lot perhaps, yes this is possible. Can we think like a child for a moment.

Today I protested for climate change, when I wake up tomorrow there will be sun and sweet songs from birds and lovely lambs playing in the fields. I made a difference just like they told me I would and my peaceful protest helped make the climate, change.

A young child can believe that their voice is being heard, the child can totally be fully convinced that the difference being made is huge and will impact the future of our planet and help mother nature do her job naturally.
I am not the sceptic here at all, by no means. My concern is that I saw a video clip saying 1 million children sit in meditation to make known their protest for a better planet and "climate change".

So.......
If we teach the children to meditate and understand a new level of mindfulness, is it by this means they will all be more relaxed about the lack of change that is occurring in the climate?
I guess the real point that got me stumbling was what exactly is it to teach children to shoot for such a high target that may not actually "change"?

Would the children not be better served to understand that the same corporate world that makes the PlayStation or the Samsung phone they want or i phone for that matter, would there be a better chance explaining to our children what it is to have in existence "planned obsolescence" perhaps they can then grow up to revolutionise industries back to how they used to be. You know, like back when a car lasted for 20 odd years or more. A time when someone put in a hard day's work and they got rewarded by pay and felt damn good about it.

Perhaps the system of not having children carrying a heap of books to school helps to save trees and oxygenates our planet but and yes BUT the concept of having a tablet (electronic device) in school for all their learning, which greatly reduces the need for books, BUT it means the continuation of plastics and microchips and "planned obsolescence".

Let's get back to the meditation though.

We teach the kids to meditate, they learn to relax a little more. On one hand this is, like so totally important, I could not agree more that there is a huge need to allow a child slowly develop and understand that nothing can ever be too big of a problem not to be able to overcome, once they meditate on it for a while.
So why? Why do we or is there a need to bring children out protesting for climate change. Let us teach them to relax about stress on one hand and then let's go ahead and stress the living daylights out of them about climate change.
A child cannot decipher that their protest for changing the climate is not a direct literal thing.
Today I demanded the climate to change. It did not change, the climate occurring is something natural that no one individual can change and yes I understand what the whole "climate change" thing is about. What I fail to see or understand is how a child's mind is suppose to fully understand.

Perhaps I give the children too little credit for what they can and cannot grasp or understand. What I do do though is allow that such protesting is going up against the giants of the world and this is a "set them up for failure" situation that as far as I can see is dealing in stress, just like a dealer. Not dealing with. I feel that the children are being handed extra stress that someday they will turn around and perhaps not be too fond of the adults for filling their minds with elements of "we can do it", when they realise the enormous change that they were trying to bring about does not happen. It will take a lot of meditation to calm them then, thats for sure.

Are the children being used as pawns in this peaceful movement and are they going to grow up much more disheartened by the whole thing. I sincerely hope not and that they are being balanced by meditation so much so that they will understand that even though their efforts were real, they have not failed.

Perhaps local communities could harness this great new youth and bring about small changes that they can see and feel in front of their faces to help them understand what making a difference actually is. Something they can touch, something they can see like a new school in their district and they can know they made a difference. Maybe an effort on homeless people in their immediate area. Maybe even a project to clean up their own city or their own local beaches and woodlands. Yes these do happen too and just like everything a child goes through these days, these can be instant and satisfying and teach the same value as to making a difference by being realistic and help them achieve near term, reachable goals.

I feel that children would understand better and become more fulfilled by their efforts on the lower scale of more practical items rather than spend their youth stressed about the climate. I am not saying their is not a great point to be made for the climate change, I am saying raising children to stress over it is not the answer.

What do you think?