Time magazine put Zelensky on the cover as Person of the Year. We here at Adbusters might have made a different choice. Not that it’s a competition, but for our money it has to be Gustavo Petro. Because his cause goes beyond the survival and dignity of one nation. It’s about the future of every living soul.

“Which is more poisonous for humanity — cocaine or coal?” Petro asked, from the floor of the United Nations General Assembly last summer, just weeks after being elected president of Colombia. “Surmounting the climate crisis,” he told the world leaders assembled there, “means leaving behind the consumption of oil and gas.”

There’s a word for someone who shows up not when he’s wanted but when he’s needed. They call that person a prophet. For decades, our leaders have fired blanks on the issue of climate change. They have colossally mishandled the crisis and even after the floods, hurricanes and fires of the last two years, they still have no plan and no vision for getting us out of the fix we’re in. Clearly, they are going to have to be pushed. They’re going to have to be cajoled and shamed. Tiny Colombia, led by Petro, just made the first move.

So let’s take this little ember that Petro got going and fan it. Let’s carry his challenge to the White House, the Bundestag, the House of Assembly, the House of Common. Let’s rise up and tell our leaders we want them to move on Petro’s lead. And if they don’t, then let’s ramp up the intensity of our protests and civil disobedience to fever pitch.