Pikachu swarm reminds ‘PM’ about climate emergency
Extinction Rebellion Australia, 10 Feb 2022
Frances, original Canberra Pikachu: “There is no issue more important than climate change at this election.”
Earlier this year Scott Morrison claimed "I'm listening to her” when asked about a lone climate activist dressed as Pikachu and holding placards pleading for action on the climate.
This week many more Pikachus greeted ‘the Prime Minister’, on the first parliamentary sitting day of 2022. Observers said the PM seemed to be just back from another Hawaiian holiday and was still holding a lump of coal. One Pikachu tried to get him to hold a hose, but without success. The PM moved on, stepping through despairing Pikachus lying on the ground.
Frances, the original Canberra Pikachu, says her call for emergency climate action has not been heard at all, with Australia continuing to extract fossil fuels and exporting them abroad. Frances says “There is no issue more important than climate change at this election.”
The Pokémon mascot Pikachu character has appeared in numerous climate protests across the globe. The 350.org site explains that:
Pokémon became a pop culture phenomena throughout the late 90s and early 2000s, and remains a source of immense affection for millennials around the world. Pokémon undergo a series of evolutions over the course of their lives – levelling up and getting stronger in the process. Similarly, the climate crisis requires us all to evolve and level-up, refining only the powers that facilitate the success of our species. Pikachu, being an electric-type Pokémon, makes it the perfect embodiment of our need as a collective to evolve into renewable electricity producers.
Pokémon, the most lucrative media franchise of all time, was created by Satoshi Tajiri, a somewhat environmentally conscious insect collector. As urban areas of Japan spread, many habitats for hunting bugs were lost. Tajiri saw an opportunity for urban kids to have the experience of bug catching through video gaming.
The franchise has recently acknowledged the very real perils of climate change. In the live-action movie Detective Pikachu, the characters slip and slide when the ground starts to crumble. There’s a moment where Pikachu yells, “At this point, how can you not believe in climate change?”
In Pokémon’s Sword and Shield, there’s more than a one-line reference to the catastrophe we all face. Corsola, a second-generation pink and smiling coral-like Pokémon, has been bleached by rising ocean temperatures and replaced by a ghostly white descendant, Cursola.
Meanwhile, the Australian Government is apparently oblivious to the reality of the climate emergency, offering only the illusion of ambitious climate action, while clearly prioritising the interests of Australia’s fossil fuel industries.
We must repeat Detective Pikachu’s question “At this point, how can you not believe in climate change?” And we say – in the face of the appalling consequences of following the current path, how can you NOT take immediate and radical action?