“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” – Leo Tolstoy
Do you remember the environmental science subject taught in schools? It was considered an additional subject and given less importance compared to other subjects. In my school, students used to cram the answers to the questions at the end of chapters without paying any heed to its content. This negligence might not have affected a lot of people, but the growing apathy amongst human beings regarding climate change has raised many questions. If burning fossil fuels is threatening for our survival, why don’t we have restrictions? Why is the topic of climate justice rarely discussed? Why are emissions still increasing? Why has the current situation not been declared as a crisis? These are the questions being asked by a girl of the 21st century, Greta Thunberg, who has inspired the world to take the topic of climate change with gravity.
Greta Thunberg was born on 3rd January 2003 in Stockholm, Sweden, who came into recognition for protests related to the climate crisis. She was eight years old when she first heard the term climate change and was shocked by the fact that nobody was taking the necessary steps to counter this change. At the age of 11, she went into depression because she was traumatized by the irresponsible behavior of humans, and was later diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and selective mutism. This means that she finds it challenging to interact regularly with others, but this condition has also helped her to speak candidly and straightforwardly – “How dare you? You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words.”, these were her words at 2019 UN climate action summit. I think this confidence in her speeches has a profound impact on the audience as it makes them feel guilty and makes them introspect about the current climatic situation.
She started the fight against climate change at the age of 15 by protesting outside the Swedish parliament with a placard, “Skolstrejk för klimatet” (School strike for the climate). She wanted the government to take action to reduce the carbon emissions as stated in the Paris Agreement. This protest went viral on social media, and school students from all around the world joined the movement known as school strike for climate (also known as Fridays for Future). Today, there are a large number of students who skip school on Fridays to protest and call for strict action to be taken by political leaders to control the imbalance in the climate before the changes become irreversible. The two main strikes were held on 15 March 2019 and on 24 May 2019, involving students from around 125 countries from all over the world. The huge number of people involved in this movement indicates the global impact of Greta Thunberg and the Fridays for Future
movement that has also been honored with Amnesty International’s Ambassador of Conscience Award for 2019.
The protests are a great way of making one’s voices heard, but you must be thinking it’s easier said than done. What has a seventeen-year-old girl changed in her own life to reduce the effects of her family’s carbon footprint? Greta was successful in persuading her parents to make their carbon footprint as low as possible. Her mother, Malena Ernman, who is a Swedish opera singer, gave up flying although it affected her career severely. Her father, Svante Thunberg, who is a Swedish actor, initially started following a vegetarian diet and currently follows a vegan diet. Greta also made them realize the current situation of the world’s climate crisis and change their lifestyles in order to have less impact on the environment. She has taken a sabbatical year from her school in order to meet people associated with the climate movement. In order to reach New York, USA to attend the UN summit on zero emissions, she traveled in a zero-emission yacht with only solar panels and two hydro-generators to power it.
The impact of Greta Thunberg’s protest on people all over the world is commendable. There are numerous people involved in the protests and movements around the world, which shows how one can inspire others irrespective of their age and circumstances. Humans have started looking at a matter, which was thought to be trivial, with greater importance. I think most of the credit goes to Greta for stepping forward and speaking her heart out. She seems to be unaffected by the criticisms related to her protests and I think her strength and honesty have enabled her to keep working in order to make the people aware of the climate crisis.
She could have continued with her education in primary school, but she chose to protest against the political leaders. She could have stepped down after receiving negative responses from people like Vladimir Putin or Donald Trump, but she handled these situations boldly. She could have talked in a manner that would give people hope, but she chose to reveal the harsh reality as such. She could have given up due to her illness, but she never let herself down. This was the story of Greta Thunberg, who has inspired people and made a global impact.
“Difficulties in your life do not come to destroy you but to help you realize your hidden potential and power. Let difficulties know that you too are difficult” – A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
References
- Thunberg, Greta (24 November 2018). School strike for climate – save the world by changing the rules.
- Rourke, Alison (2 September 2019). Greta Thunberg responds to Asperger’s critics: ‘It’s a superpower’. The Guardian.
- Alter, Charlotte; Haynes, Suyin; Worland, Justin (11 December 2019). Arbugaeva, Evgenia (ed.). Greta Thunberg: TIME’s Person of the Year 2019.
- ‘Is my English OK?’: Greta Thunberg’s blunt speech to UK MPs. SBS News. (25 April 2019).
- Who is Greta Thunberg, the #FridaysForFuture activist?. BBC News. (29 November 2019).
- Glenza, Jessica; Evans, Alan; Ellis-Petersen, Hannah; Zhou, Naaman (15th March, 2019). Climate strikes held around the world – as it happened. The Guardian.
- Gerretsen, Isabelle (24th May, 2019). Global Climate Strike: Record number of students walk out. CNN.
- Climate activists Greta Thunberg and the Fridays for Future movement honoured with top Amnesty International award. Amnesty International. (7 June 2019).
- Thunberg, Greta (11 December 2018). School Strike for Climate: Meet 15-Year-Old Activist Greta Thunberg, Who Inspired a Global Movement. Democracy Now! (Interview). Interviewed by Amy Goodman.
- Watts, Jonathan (11 March 2019). Greta Thunberg, schoolgirl climate change warrior: ‘Some people can let things go. I can’t’. The Guardian.
- Haynes, Suyin (29 July 2019). Climate Activist Greta Thunberg to Set Sail for the Americas. Time.
12. Greta Thunberg’s yacht due in New York on Tuesday. France 24. AFP. 26 August 2019. 13. Thunberg, Greta (23 September 2019). Greta Thunberg to world leaders: ‘How dare you? You have stolen my dreams and my childhood’. Guardian News.
14. Fridays for Future – FridaysForFuture.org
15. Stracqualursi, Veronica (25 September 2019). Trump mocks teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg. CNN.
16. Soldatkin, Vladimir; Zhdannikov, Dmitry (2 October 2019). Putin: I don’t share excitement about Greta Thunberg’s U.N. speech. Reuters
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