GRETA THUNBERG – A CRUSADER ON CLIMATE CHANGE
I. Introduction
Climate change is one of the burning issues that we face today with respect to world
environment conservation.
Climate change is a long-term, sustained trend of change in climate. Effects that
scientists had predicted in the past would result from global climate change are now
occurring: loss of sea ice, accelerated sea level rise and longer, more intense heat
waves.
As reported by the United Nations, climate Change is the defining issue of our time
and we are at a defining moment. From shifting weather patterns that threaten food
production, to rising sea levels that increase the risk of catastrophic flooding, the
impacts of climate change are global in scope and unprecedented in scale. Without
drastic action today, adapting to these impacts in the future will be more difficult
and costly.
However despite the efforts of various world level organizations, most countries are
not taking the effects of climate change seriously. It is in this context the efforts of a
young girl named Greta Thunberg a Swedish environmental activist receives world
attention.
II. The Climate movement
Following the growing concern directed to climate change, different initiatives have
been popping up during the last decades, especially after the Rio 92 conference, and
more recently the Paris Agreement.
Activism related to climate change began in the 1990s, when major environmental
organizations became involved in the discussions about climate, mainly in
the UNFCCC framework. The 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference in
Copenhagen was the first UNFCCC summit in which the climate movement started
showing its mobilization power at a large scale. The climate movement convened its
largest single event on 21 September 2014, when it mobilized 400,000 activists in
New York during the People’s Climate March (plus several thousands more in other
cities), organized by the People's Climate Movement, to demand a climate action from
the global leaders gathered for the 2014 UN Climate Summit.
However the year 2018 marked a new dimension in the realm of fight against climate
change issues with the activism initiated by young Greta.
III. Some facts about Greta
a. Who is she?
Greta Thunberg was born on 3rd January 2003 in Stockholm, Sweden, the
daughter of opera singer Malena Ernman and actor Svante Thunberg.
b. Mental health
Thunberg says she first heard about climate change in 2011, when she was eight
years old, and could not understand why so little was being done about it. The
situation made her depressed. She stopped talking and eating, and lost ten kilograms
in two months. Eventually, she was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, obsessive–
compulsive disorder (OCD), and selective mutism. Greta struggled with depression
for three or four years before she began her school strike. When she started
protesting, her parents did not support her activism. Her father said he does not like
her missing school.
c. Activism at home
For about two years, Thunberg challenged her parents to lower the family's carbon
footprint and overall impact on the environment by becoming vegan, up cycling,
and giving up flying. She has said she tried showing them graphs and data, but when
that did not work, she warned her family that they were stealing her future.
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d. School strike for climate
In May 2018, Thunberg won a climate change essay competition held by Swedish
newspaper Svenska Dagbladet. In part, she wrote "I want to feel safe. How can I feel
safe when I know we are in the greatest crisis in human history?”
Strike at the Riksdag: In August 2018, Thunberg began the school climate strikes
and public speeches for which she has become an internationally recognised climate
activist.
On 20 August 2018, Thunberg, who had just started ninth grade, decided not to
attend school until the 2018 Swedish general election on 9 September; her protest
began after the heat waves and wildfires during Sweden's hottest summer in at least
262 years. Her demands were that the Swedish government reduce carbon emissions
in accordance with the Paris Agreement, and she protested by sitting outside
the Riksdag every day for three weeks during school hours with the sign Skolstrejk
för klimatet (school strike for climate).
e. Social media activism
Thunberg posted a photo of her first strike day on Instagram and Twitter, with other
social media accounts quickly taking up her cause. A representative of the Finnish
bank Nordea quoted one of Thunberg's tweets to more than 200,000 followers.
After October 2018, Thunberg's activism evolved from solitary protesting to taking
part in demonstrations throughout Europe. After the December 2018 general
elections, Thunberg continued to strike only on Fridays. She inspired school
students across the globe to take part in student strikes. That month, more than
20,000 students had held strikes in at least 270 cities.
According to modified language arts educator Jennifer Hall, the Earth Club advisor
for West Seattle High School, the Greta Effect inspires unprecedented environmental
activism among her students.
f. Protests and speeches in Europe
Her speech during the plenary session of the 2018 United Nations Climate Change
Conference (COP24) went viral. She commented that the world leaders present were
"not mature enough to tell it like it is".
In the first half of 2019 she joined various student protests around Europe, and was
invited to speak at various forums and parliaments. At the January 2019 World
Economic Forum, Thunberg gave a speech in which she declared: "Our house is on
fire". She addressed the British, European and French parliaments.
In a short meeting with Thunberg, Pope Francis thanked her and encouraged her to
continue. By March 2019, Thunberg was still staging her regular protests outside the
Swedish parliament every Friday. In August 2019, Thunberg sailed across the
Atlantic Ocean from Plymouth, England, to New York, USA, in the 60-foot (18 m)
racing yacht Malizia II, equipped with solar panels and underwater turbines. The trip
was announced as a carbon-neutral transatlantic crossing serving as a
demonstration of Thunberg's declared beliefs of the importance of reducing green
house gas emissions.
g. UN Climate Action Summit
On 23 September, Thunberg attended the UN Climate Action Summit in New York
City. In a speech at the summit, Thunberg said to world leaders: "This is all wrong. I
shouldn’t be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet
you all come to us young people for hope? How dare you! You have stolen my dreams
and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I'm one of the lucky ones. People
are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the
beginning of a mass extinction. And all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of
eternal economic growth.”
According to ‘The Guardian’ News paper, Greta Thunberg has excoriated world
leaders for their “betrayal” of young people through their inertia over the climate
crisis at a United Nations summit that failed to deliver ambitious new commitments
to address dangerous global heating.
h. Autumn global climate strikes
In Canada, Thunberg participated in climate protests in the cities
of Montreal, Edmonton and Vancouver including leading a climate rally as part of the
27 September Global Climate Strike in Montreal. The school strikes for climate on 20
and 27 September 2019 were attended by over four million people, according to one
of the co-organisers.
The mayor of Montreal gave her the Freedom of the City. Prime Minister Justin
Trudeau was in attendance, and Thunberg spoke briefly with him.
While in the United States, Thunberg participated in climate protests in New York
City, Iowa City, Los Angeles, Charlotte, Denver, and the Standing Rock Indian
Reservation.
i. Participation at COP25
Thunberg had intended to remain in the Americas to travel overland to attend
the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP25) originally planned in
Santiago, Chile in December. However, it was announced on short notice that COP25
was to be moved to Madrid, Spain. Thunberg has refused to fly because of the carbon
emissions from air travel, so she posted on social media that she needed a ride
across the Atlantic Ocean. (The term Flygskam, which translates to “flight shame”
and encourages individuals to take the train over a plane, has seemingly gained
popularity in Thunberg’s native Sweden). Riley Whitelum and his wife, Elayna
Carausu, two Australians who had been sailing around the world aboard offered to
take her. So, on 13 November 2019, Thunberg set sail from Hampton, Virginia, for
Lisbon, Portugal. Her departing message was the same as it has been since she
began her activism: "My message to the Americans is the same as to everyone – that
is to unite behind the science and to act on the science”.
j. Further activism in Europe
On 30 December 2019 Thunberg was guest editor of the BBC Radio's flagship
current affairs programme, the Today Programme. On 21 January 2020, Thunberg
returned to the World Economic Forum held in Davos, Switzerland, delivered two
speeches, and participated in panel discussions hosted by The New York Times and
the World Economic Forum. On 4 March 2020, Thunberg attended an extraordinary
meeting of the European Parliament’s Environment Committee to talk about the
European Climate Law.
k. What she says on climate change
Thunberg believes that humanity is facing an existential crisis because of global
warming and holds the current generation of adults responsible for creating the
problem. She uses graphic analogies (such as "our house is on fire") to highlight her
concerns and often speaks bluntly to business and political leaders about their
failure to take concerted action.
Thunberg has pointed out that climate change will have a disproportionate effect on
young people whose futures will be profoundly affected. She argues that her
generation may not have a future anymore, because "that future was sold so that a
small number of people could make unimaginable amounts of money". She also has
made the point that people in the Global South will suffer most from climate change,
even though they have contributed least in terms of carbon dioxide
emissions. Speaking in Madrid in December 2019, she said: "We talk about our
future, they talk about their present."
Speaking at international forums, she berates world leaders that too little action is
being taken to reduce global emissions. She makes the point that lowering emissions
is not enough, and says emissions need to be reduced to zero if the world is to keep
global warming to less than 1.5C. Speaking to the British Parliament in April 2019,
she said: "The fact that we are speaking of “lowering” instead of “stopping”
emissions is perhaps the greatest force behind the continuing business as
usual". In order to take the necessary action, she added that politicians should not
listen to her; they should listen to what the scientists are saying about how to
address the crisis.”
l. Where is she during COVID-19?
“Mar 25, 2020. STOCKHOLM: Teen climate activist Greta Thunberg said on Tuesday
that while self-isolating after recent travels in Europe she probably came down with
COVID-19, and urged other young people to stay at home too if even just a little
unwell, to help stop the coronavirus. Swedish Thunberg said on Instagram she had
now recovered from symptoms milder than her latest cold, and may not have
suspected COVID-19 had it not been for her father, who had travelled with her,
developing more severe symptoms.
She said that everyone must fight the climate crisis and coronavirus pandemic
simultaneously and not allow the health crisis to delay action on cutting carbon
emissions. Thunberg added “If one virus can wipe out the entire economy in a matter
of weeks and shut down societies, then that is a proof that our societies are not very
resilient. It also shows that once we are in an emergency, we can act and we can
change our behavior quickly.”
m. Honours and awards
Thunberg has received various honours and awards over the course of her activism.
She has received prizes from various NGOs, but also from scientific institutions that
lauded her success in raising awareness.
This include
1. TIME'S 25 most influential teens of 2018, December 2018.
2. Fryshuset scholarship, 2018, for Young Role Model of the Year.
3. Nobel Peace Prize nomination, 2019 and 2020.
4. Swedish Woman of the Year (Årets Svenska Kvinna), March 2019.
5. Rachel Carson Prize, March 2019.
6. Goldene Kamera film and television awards, March 2019.
7. Fritt Ord Award, April 2019.
8. TIME 100, April 2019, by Time magazine, in the list of the 100 most influential
people in the world for that year.
9. Laudato si' Prize, April 2019.
10. Doctor honoris causa (honorary doctorate), May 2019, conferred by the
Belgian, University of Mons.
11. Ambassador of Conscience Award, June 2019, Amnesty International.
12. The Geddes Environment Medal, July 2019, by the Royal Scottish
Geographical Society.
13. Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, July 2019,
automatically conferred with the Geddes award.
14. Right Livelihood Award, September 2019, from the Right Livelihood Foundation
and known as Sweden's alternative Nobel Prize.
15. Keys to the City of Montréal, September 2019.
16. Nelloptodes gretae, October 2019, a newly identified species of beetle is named
for Greta Thunberg.
17. International Children's Peace Prize, October 2019.
18. Maphiyata echiyatan hin win (Woman Who Came from the
Heavens), Lakota tribal name conferred, October 2019.
19. Nordic Council Environment Prize, October 2019.
20. Time Person of the Year, December 2019.
21. Glamour Woman of the Year Award 2019, by Glamour magazine.
22. Nature's 10, 2019, December 2019, an annual list of ten "people who mattered"
in science, produced by the scientific journal Nature.
23. Forbes list of The World's 100 Most Powerful Women, 2019.
24. Craspedotropis gretathunbergae, February 2020, a new species of snail in the
family Cyclophoridae is named after Greta.
n. Books written
1. Scenes from the Heart (2018), with her sister, father and mother.
2. No One is Too Small to Make a Difference (May 2019), a collection of her
climate action speeches with the earnings being donated to charity.
IV. Conclusion
Greta Thunberg fought all her childhood problems and became a world renowned
student activist on climate change. Though initially her parents did not give her any
support, her perseverance made them believe in her. Even though she travels to
many foreign countries to give speeches in parliaments, world forums and to have
discussion with world leaders, other activists, her decision not to travel by flights in
order to reduce carbon emission itself shows that she practices what she preaches.
Her statement that “politicians should not listen to her; they should listen to what
the scientists are saying about how to address the crisis” shows her selfless nature.
The name of her book ‘No One is Too Small to Make a Difference’ encourages
students like us all over the world to act upon the various environmental issues by
thinking locally and acting globally.
 സാങ്കേതിക പരിശോധന - Sreejaashok25 തീയ്യതി: 12/ 02/ 2022 >> രചനാവിഭാഗം - ലേഖനം
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