Greta Thunberg, fighting with the Youth

Thunberg, A teen so young yet so powerful.

“But I have learned you are never too small to make a difference.” — Greta Thunberg during the UN COP24 Climate Summit speech, December 2018.

Greta Thunberg, aged 19, is a Swedish environmental activist who is widely known for speaking up and challenging world leaders to take rapid action in the fight against climate change. The young Thunberg made headlines in the first place for her straightforward and blunt speaking style, which she uses in public and political leaders and assemblies, where she criticizes world leaders for not taking what she considers sufficient action to address the climate crisis. She commented that the world leaders present were “not mature enough to tell it like it is.”

Thunberg’s activism began when she urged her parents to make lifestyle changes that would minimize their personal carbon footprint. By holding up a placard reading Skolstrejk för klimatet (School strike for climate) outside the Swedish Parliament in August 2018, she began spending her school days calling for more action on climate change at the age of 15. Due to Thunberg’s actions, other students were soon encouraged to join in on the move in their communities. Fridays for Future was a school climate strike initiative that they planned together. Student strikes were happening every week around the world after Thunberg addressed the 2018 United Nations Climate Change Conference. Multiple organized multi-city protests involving over a million students in 2019. Thunberg traveled in a yacht to North America, where she attended the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit to avoid carbon-intensive flying. It was widely reported that her speech, in which she exclaimed “How dare you,” was widely covered by the media and integrated into music.

Numerous honors and awards have been awarded to her, including an honorary Fellowship of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, inclusion in Time’s 100 most influential people, being the youngest Time Person of the Year, inclusion in Forbes’ list of The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women (2019), and Nobel Peace Prize nominations in 2019, 2020, and 2021.

“The Greta Effect”

With Greta’s leadership skills, she has inspired some of her school-aged peers in what has been called “The Greta Effect.” Several politicians have recognized the need to work on climate change in response to her vocal attitude. Michael Gove, Britain’s secretary for the environment, stated: “When I listened to you, I felt great admiration, but also responsibility and guilt. I am of your parents’ generation, and I recognize that we haven’t done nearly enough to address climate change and the broader environmental crisis that we helped to create”. The labour politician Ed Miliband, who was the one responsible for introducing the Climate Change Act 2008 also expressed his thanks and gratitude to Greta Thunberg’s actions. “You have woken us up. Thank you. All the young people who have gone on strike have held up a mirror to our society.You have taught us all a really important lesson. You have stood out from the crowd,” he said.

For the past years, she has received prestigious awards as an environmental activist and a female leader for the young generation.

Some of Greta Thunberg’s notable awards and nominations:

• Time's 25 most influential teens of 2018, December 2018

• Fryshuset scholarship, 2018, for Young Role Model of the Year

• Nobel Peace Prize nomination, 2019, by three deputies of the Norwegian parliament. Again in 2020 by two Swedish lawmakers. Nominated in 2021.

• Swedish Woman of the Year (Årets Svenska Kvinna), March 2019, awarded by the Swedish Women's Educational Association

• Goldene Kamera film and television awards, March 2019, special Climate Action Award

• TIME 100, April 2019, by Time magazine, an annual list of the 100 most influential people yearly

• Ambassador of Conscience Award, June 2019, Amnesty International's most prestigious award, for her leadership in the climate movement, shared with Fridays for Future

• Time Person of the Year, December 2019, by Time magazine, the first recipient born in the 21st century and the youngest ever.

• Glamour Woman of the Year Award 2019, 12 November 2019, by Glamour magazine

• Forbes list of The World's 100 Most Powerful Women, 2019

Article Information from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greta_Thunberg

Photo credits to Vogue Russia, kynang.sunnycare.vn, zdf.de, TheVision.com, theglobeandmail.com, VanityFair, bigthink.com