What many young people think:
Greta Thunberg Quotes
Greta Thunberg is a 17-year old climate activist from Sweden. A school girl with autism, standing at less than 5ft, she started the ‘School Strike for Climate’ protests. Over the past 6 months, she has become a global superstar of the climate change movement. Promoting #fridaysforfuture alongside millions of school children (and now adults) across the globe to demand politicians, governments and corporations take action on climate change.
On Friday 20th August 2018, Greta’s steely determination led her to sit outside parliament in Stockholm, Sweden, every day during school time for 2 weeks with a sign saying ‘Skolstrejk för klimatet’ (School Strike for Climate). This was in response to heatwaves and wildfires across Sweden. She demanded the country reduce their carbon emissions in line with the Paris Agreement.
What started out as one person standing up and saying no, quickly gained much media coverage. Every Friday, Greta Thunberg protests for climate action, alongside her battered sign. Now joined by millions of other young climate activists across the planet. The latest global strike, Friday May 24th, attracted over 1.8million in over 1,400 locations across 110 countries.
- “At first when I heard about climate change, I was a climate denier. I didn’t think it was happening. Because if there really was an existential crisis like that, that would threaten our civilisation, we wouldn’t be focusing on anything else.”
- “For way too long, the politicians and the people in power have gotten away with not doing anything to fight the climate crisis, but we will make sure that they will not get away with it any longer. We are striking because we have done our homework and they have not.”
- “We can't save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed. Everything needs to change - and it has to start today.”
- “I often talk to people who say, ‘No, we have to be hopeful and to inspire each other, and we can’t tell [people] too many negative things’ . . . But, no — we have to tell it like it is. Because if there are no positive things to tell, then what should we do, should we spread false hope? We can’t do that, we have to tell the truth.”
- “The climate crisis has already been solved. We already have all the facts and solutions. All we have to do is to wake up and change.”
- “Since our leaders are behaving like children, we will have to take the responsibility they should have taken long ago.”
- “You say you love your children above all else and yet you are stealing their future in front of their very eyes”
- “Why should I be studying for a future that soon may be no more, when no one is doing anything to save that future? And what is the point of learning facts when the most important facts clearly mean nothing to our society?”
World Economic Forum, Davos, January 2019
After travelling 32 hours by train to the World Economic Forum in snowy Davos, Switzerland, aligned with her stance on reducing carbon emissions, she didn’t pull any punches when addressing world leaders.
- “Some people, some companies, some decision-makers in particular, have known exactly what priceless values they have been sacrificing to continue making unimaginable amounts of money. And I think many of you here today belong to that group of people”
- “I think it is insane that people are gathered here to talk about the climate and they arrive here in private jets”
- “Adults keep saying we owe it to the young people, to give them hope, but I don’t want your hope. I don’t want you to be hopeful. I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day. I want you to act. I want you to act as you would in a crisis. I want you to act as if the house is on fire, because it is.”
- Extinction Rebellion (also known as XR) is a non-violent protest against climate breakdown, biodiversity loss, and the risk of human extinction and ecological collapse. They have been responsible for many protests worldwide. These include occupying bridges in London for over 10 days in April, staging ‘die-ins’ in public places (such as the Natural History Museum) naked demonstrations in the House of Commons and pouring fake blood on the road outside No. 10 Downing Street.
Extinction Rebellion London, UK, April 2019 - “Humanity is now standing at a crossroads. We must now decide which path we want to take. How do we want the future living conditions for all living species to be like?”
