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The sign reads: "Make Love Not CO₂"
F R I D A Y S F O R F U T U R E I N M I L A N
Do adults really listen? That was the question on my mind as I watched a relatively small group of young adults and teenagers gathered for a public assembly in Sempione Park in Milan, taking the microphone in turns and expressing their thoughts on the current conflicts, criticizing school, telling about their activism, and more. The demonstration was organized by the Milan chapter of Fridays For Future, the climate movement that has Greta Thunberg among its founders, and that attracted also in Milan a huge crowd in 2021. This time, in 2025, a lot less.
And yet, the climate emergency that the movement denounced, and is still denouncing, hasn't gone anywhere, on the contrary. With some governments and companies backtracking on their sustainability goals, the future doesn't have a brilliant outlook.
What's more, I noticed that many (not all) of the adults (a handful) present at the demonstration, who could be parents and grandparents of the younger ones, didn't really seem to pay a lot attention to what the young people were saying, but were chatting by themselves on the fringes instead. And I couldn't help but wonder, if even the grown-ups of the "same team" don't listen to what the young people wish, need, fear, and worry about, what chances does the youth has with being truly listened to?
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