“We have had 30 years of pep-talking and selling positive ideas. And I am sorry but it doesn’t work…one thing we need more than hope is action,” said the 16-year-old, Greta Thunberg, a young advocate for climate change from Sweden.
It won’t be wrong to say that she is a painful reminder of years of climate failures and that it is high time that we need to act now instead of relying on pep talks.
Who is Greta Thunberg?
- Born on 3 January 2003, Greta is vegan and likes to live a low-carbon life and is a young advocate for climate change.
- Last year in August 2018, she sat herself down outside the Swedish Parliament and started a school strike for the climate. Her movement has gained momentum very quickly and has spread across the globe and is called FridaysForFuture .
- She is not alone and today about 1,00,000 school children have joined her to show their support.
- She is also spoken at the climate rallies in Stockholm, Helsinki, Brussels, and London.
- In December 2018, in her speech to UN secretary-general António Guterres in Katowice, she expressed her disappointment in political leaders and said, ”Our leaders behave like children”
Watch the video below
- This year in January 2019, she was invited to the World Economic Forum in Davos where she again gave a powerful and thought-stirring speech.
- In the United Nations Climate Action Summit 2019 on 23 September, an emotional Greta says, “You have stolen my dreams and childhood with your empty words.” On 27 September a second worldwide strike is planned and she urges everyone to join her in the climate movement.
Greta shared her views in TEDx talk last year on November 2018 and here’s why we all should listen to her…
- She was eight years old when she heard about climate change and global warming and understood that it was something that was created by humans because of their way of living.
- It was strange for her to understand that humans, which is one of the animal species can be responsible for changing the Earth’s climate.
- In her speech, she asks the world that if fossil fuel was so bad that it threatened our existence, then how come it was never stopped and using it was not made illegal?
- When she was 11 years old, she fell ill and went into depression and she stopped talking and eating. In 2 months, she lost about 10 kilos of weight. Later on, she was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome (AS), OCD and selective mutism. She said, “That basically means I only speak when I think it’s necessary- now is one of those moments.”
- “If the emissions have to stop, then we must stop the emissions,” she mentioned while questioning the mindset of people when it comes to climate change.
- She stresses the fact that “we are in the midst of sixth mass extinction with up to 200 species going extinct every single day and the extinction rate today is between 1,000-10,000 times higher than what is seen as normal”.
- What we do and don’t do will affect my entire life, I and my generation can’t undo in the future.
- “Some people say that I should study to become a climate scientist so that I can ‘solve the climate crisis’. But the climate crisis has already been solved. We already have all the facts and solutions. All we have to do is wake up and change,” added Greta.
Are you with Greta?