Spotlight on Greta Thunberg, Climate Change Activist
I want to bring a particular young person to your attention. Perhaps you’ve already heard of her, perhaps you haven’t (although she was one of TIME’s 25 Most Influential Teens of 2018!). This young girl is an activist who got the world’s attention by talking about a major humanitarian issue on a global stage alongside world leaders and scientists, to call out global decision makers on their bad decision making. It’s hard to believe that such a young person exists outside of comic book super heroes. But let me introduce you to Greta Thunberg.
Greta is an inspiring young girl. Who is standing up for what she believes in – which is a future for our planet. Her journey started when, as a 9 year old, her school teacher spoke of the importance to turn lights off, save water, don’t waste food etc. After asking why, she learned the background for what we were already experiencing at that time (and what was inevitably going to worsen): climate change and global warming; what human selfishness had done to Earth and what the signs and symptoms of our broken planet were. Greta literally found it all hard to believe. Not because she doubted the science. But because she could not comprehend such an impacting and devastating situation being only whispered about. If it were all true, surely there would be global movements to deal with it? World leaders would be uniting to work towards solutions as the absolute number one priority of their leadership – wouldn’t they? Greta was so dissatisfied with the apathy of those around her to this dire situation that she spent several years thinking and talking purely about climate change. But after a couple of years, Greta became depressed, stopped eating and stopped talking, becoming quite unwell. She was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, OCD and selective mutism. But none of this stopped her extensive research into climate change (a characteristic of Asperger’s is being able to concentrate for remarkably long periods of time, and having the need to dive deeply into subject matters which interest them). On a personal level, Greta became vegan, and convinced her family to follow suit; she stopped flying on planes (her mother, who’s an internationally renowned opera singer, did the same, giving up the international side of her career); the Thunberg’s installed solar batteries, began growing their own vegetables, purchased an electric car, and only use it when necessary. Greta is the embodiment for words being put into action. This is the polar opposite of what she saw being done around her, which was politicians paying lip service only to the climate crisis. So in August 2018, Greta decided to make a stand, against her Swedish government – she’d already gotten her family to re-think environmental responsibility! For 3 weeks, Greta did not attend school. She sat on the steps of parliament instead, demanding that her government raise climate policy higher on their agenda. Sweden had experienced an unprecedented heat wave and catastrophic fires. This highlighted to Greta that not enough was being done to make good on the promises in the Paris Agreement. And those who are making this difficult should be held to account.
Greta has been continuing to #schoolstrike4climate every Friday, and has raised her voice and message so loud that tens of thousands of school students followed her lead in a global school strike in November last year. In fact tens and thousands of students continue to do this each Friday. So impactful has she been that she was asked to address world leaders at the COP24 United Nations Summit on Climate Change in Katowice in December 2018; she followed up with an excellent TEDx Talk later that month; and she was asked to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos in late January (where over a lunch, she roasted the elite present: “Some people, some companies, some decision-makers in particular, have known exactly what priceless values they have been sacrificing to continue to make unimaginable amounts of money. And I think many of you here today belong to that group of people”). It would be prudent to point out that Greta travelled to the summit via a 32 hour train ride – the majority of those she addressed, including Bono, I’m afraid, travelled via private jet – yes, to a conference where major items on the agenda included climate change and sustainability. Greta is at the forefront of an entire generation who are worried, very legitimately so, about the state of the world they stand to inherit in the near future. She is a wonderful poster girl for slogans like “Be the change you want to see”; “Actions speak louder than words”; “Less talk, more action”. And she’s coined her own: “Once we start to act, hope is everywhere.” This statement was in lieu of continuing the pep-talks and sale of positive ideas on ‘we will reduce global CO2 emissions’, which she sees as having gone on (and have been left unanswered), for the past 30 years. Greta pulls no punches in her honest appraisal of the climate crisis.
Greta is now 16 years old. And from where I sit, she’s a world leader. Not in the official sense, of course. But in the way that really matters – having a belief, passionately standing by it, and using media to spread the message to the people of the world. This message is one of how important it is we CHANGE the way we’ve been doing things FOR THE SAKE OF THE FUTURE OF OUR PLANET – it’s a message we can’t ignore. She’s informed and motivated people in a way most world leaders only dream of. And now it’s your turn to take that motivation and inspiration of a 16 y.o. Swedish school girl and make changes. We all need only start with small actions: eating less meat; taking the train instead of driving the commute to work; switching your appliances off at the wall when not in use; supporting industry who supports and uses renewable energy; only taking a flight when necessary; removing wasteful plastic from your life etc etc. If we all start making these small changes, we will see positive outcomes: CO2 emissions will start to fall. But don’t talk about it, do it! And you’ll no doubt surprise yourself by how easy it is to become a sustainability warrior!
