When's the first time you've known about Greta Thunberg? In the news? In social media? Like many of us, I too was baffled on how a teenage girl from Sweden is able to speak out powerful truths about our changing climate. But I guess that's just the power of telling the truth. You can lean on it even if you're alone; voicing out the truth will always be heard amidst a thousand drowning voices.
Greta's work, that of upholding climate justice, started in August 2018 when she protested alone in front of the Swedish parliament house holding a sign with the words "Skolstrejk for Klimatet" (School strike for climate) skipping out her school class in the process. She garnered instant attention from local news publications. In just a span of weeks, people supporting her cause soon accompanied her in protest. Not only this but similar strikes, inspired by Greta's cause, were also organized in other countries.
Prior to her protest, Greta was living a simple life. She was, however, passionate about the environment even at a young age, studying everything she can about the subject.
Her life's work came clear to her when she watched a documentary about the climate crisis when she was 8 years old. This left her wondering why little to none is being done about it when the fate of our planet-our species-is on the line. This situation made her enter episodes of depression. Adding to this is her being diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, a mild form of Autism. But unlike other people, she considers her having of Asperger's as a super power.
She seemed to stop functioning. She stopped playing the piano. She stopped laughing. She stopped talking. And she stopped eating. -Malena Ernman (Greta's mother)
People like Greta that are in the Autism spectrum has limited social and emotional capacities, all of their psychological functions are tipped towards the other end of the spectrum which includes: being too rational, being overly inclined to intellectual interests, and being too detail oriented. This is what makes her consider her condition to be a superpower though. And I would say that this is also the reason why it's easy for her to stay grounded in facts when most of us are either avoiding or rationalizing problems away because they make us emotionally uncomfortable. Her condition did not limit her. In contrast, it boded well for her life's work.
At age 15, she emerged out of her depression. It was instigated when she was able to convince her family to change their lifestyle for the environment. Her mother, an international opera singer, stopped travelling by air considering the amount of carbon emission it is causing. This would mean however that she would need to give up her career. In an interview, she stated that she did it not for the environment but for the sake of Greta.
She (Greta) saw what the rest of us did not want to see. She was the child, we were the emperor. And we were all naked." -Malena Ernman
This change on her family made Greta believe that she can make a difference.
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After being internationally recognized for her protest, Greta's message gained the support of world leaders, celebrities, artists, and the youth. Her school strike on Fridays turned into a youth organization called Fridays for future. She was no longer alone in her protest.
In the next months leading up to this 2023, she has attended various conferences ranging from the world economic forum, Ted event, and the 2019 UN climate action summit on which she gained high acclaim for her speech called "The world is waking up."
On her journeys, she still maintained her cause by refusing to travel by plane and on two instances, she crossed the Atlantic ocean riding zero-carbon emission yachts. The first was to go to New York for the 2019 UN climate action summit. The other was from New York to Portugal to attend the UN climate change conference of the same year.
She has met with figures such as Barack Obama, Justin Trudeau, and Pope Francis; Celebrities like Leonardo Di Caprio and Ellen DeGeneres, and fellow youth activist Malala Yousafzai.
At a young age her many accolades already include: being named the person of the year for 2019 by Time magazine, a Nobel peace prize nomination, an honorary fellowship for the Royal Scottish geographical society; Honorary degrees: Doctor honoris causa from university of Mons, Belgium, and Doctor of Laws from university of British Columbia.
At present, her activism still continues. Supported now by millions, her cause has become a collective voice of people challenging those in power to take responsibility for the climate crisis. Because it is necessary for us all to take action and we have no other choice but to do so.
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We can no longer ignore the fact of our changing climate. It's a critical problem but it's resolution is still in our hands. We may not be able to change our our ways overnight but our efforts to contribute, even small ones, can have a a big impact if done collectively.
The climate change problem has a zealous voice in Greta Thunberg. A voice waking us all to take action. A voice proving that indeed, no one is too small to make a difference.
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References:
Photos
Anders Hellberg, Adam Johansson, Greta's Instagram, Leonardo Di Caprio's Instagram, Markus Schreiber, Craig Ruttle, Obama Foundation, Vatican Media, Phys.org
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