Greta Thunberg

Greta Thunberg. You probably know her as the young girl with the yellow rain jacket and two braids who fights against climate change. But did you know that she led a global movement at the age of 16? Did you know that she influenced national leaders to change their policies? Did you know that she spoke to the United Nations at the Climate Activist Summit?
She is now 21, yet when Thunberg was a freshman in high school she boycotted school. Against her parents' best wishes, she took to the front of the Swedish Parliament building with a sign that said, “School Strike for Climate.'' She famously said, “Since you adults don’t give a damn about my future, I won’t either.” The protest didn’t get much attention at first, but as time went on people began to notice the girl and join in on the cause. The original movement began on August 20, 2018, and was supposed to last until the September Swedish elections but as popularity grew, Thunberg announced the strike would not end until Sweden aligned with the Paris Agreement. From here the Fridays for Future movement began. Across the globe, students would walk out of classrooms each Friday and put pressure on their government officials to take climate change seriously. For the first time, students had a voice and were being seen and taken seriously. Thanks to Thunberg, leaders recognized the movement at hand and took action. French President Emmanuel Macron told TIME, “When you are a leader and every week you have young people demonstrating with such a message, you cannot remain neutral. They helped me change.” 

Thunberg was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome at a young age. It essentially means that she does not operate the same emotionally as most. She dislikes crowds and small talk. She is straight to the point, succinct, and persuasive. Although her presence in the media is growing very quickly, she doesn’t change or morph herself with her increasing fame. In fact, she stays the same which could be attributed to her popularity. Due to her Asperger’s, Thunberg is unable to compartmentalize. At age 11, she was given a lesson about global warming in school. Unlike the other students though, she was not able to easily brush it off. Thunberg fell into a deep depression and grew very ill, she was unable to eat or speak, which later stunted her growth. In an attempt to help their struggling daughter, her parents did everything in their power to reduce their carbon footprint. This meant stopping eating meat, installing solar panels, and growing their own fruits and vegetables. 

If you are reading this, you are most likely between the ages of 13-18. At the ripe age of 15, Thunberg was able to run a global movement. She is a living example of turning passion into action. Without her relentlessness she would not have been a mentor to the youth, showing them that their voice matters. She doesn’t just advocate for a voice though; it is what she is using her voice for that matters. The earth is dying. And each day we creep further and further to the point of no return. Thunberg says that it is up to us to take matters into our own hands. Do we want to live on a burning planet? She says, “We can’t just continue living as if there was no tomorrow, because there is a tomorrow, that is all we are saying.” It is time for us to realize that we are creating the world that we will live in, the world that we will raise our future children in, and so on and so forth for generations to come. Do we want them to live in these conditions? What happens when we reach the point of no return? What Thunberg says is that it is up to our government officials to put laws and regulations in place, but it is also up to us to take into account our actions and how they affect the environment surrounding us because each person and their actions matter.