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Summary
- Greta Thunberg has global spotlight since 2018 as the leader of a youth movement pushing governments and corporations to address the ongoing climate crisis.
- Her protests are viral on social media, propelling similar strikes across the world since she launched the "Fridays For Future" movement.
- Fighting for a greener post-pandemic world, Greta opines that the world now needs to “do the impossible”.
In 2018, a Swedish teenager began a solo climate protest by striking from school. Her protest videos went so viral on social media that tens of thousands of school and university students set out on a global strike, the biggest the world had ever seen.
The catalyst of this zealous movement that is better represented as the Fridays for Future/ School Strike for Climate is Greta Thunberg.
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Who is Greta Thunberg & what is her goal?
Thunberg is a Swedish climate activist known globally for her environmental campaign. The elder of two girls to opera singer Malena Ernman and Nobel Prize winner Svante Thunberg, Greta learned about climate change when she was merely eight years of age.
Primarily, Thunberg’s protests concentrated on the Swedish government's climate goals. As her fame grew, she called for governments worldwide to do more to cut global emissions. Greta urges banks, firms, and governments to stop investing and subsidising fossil fuels like oil, coal and gas, consider existing sustainable technologies, invest in research, and ultimately restore nature.
INTERESTING READ: Greta Thunberg mocks Donald Trump on Twitter in his own words: ‘Chill, Donald, Chill!’
The vocally expressive 18-year-old teen activist wants urgent action that addresses climate and ecological crisis and believes that the world needs an economic overhaul to have a chance of beating climate change. She says that countries should be willing to do away with outdated deals and contracts to meet green targets.
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How did Greta Thunberg turn into the ideal face of climate activism?
In 2018, Thunberg launched the "Fridays For Future" movement, also referred to as the School Strike for Climate. Her movement was so impactful that it encouraged students globally to skip school and demand action on climate change from their governments.
The strong-headed activist on a mission has also staged a strike for two weeks outside the Swedish parliament, demanding that the government cut emissions by 15% a year.
She also travelled to New York to address a UN climate conference in 2019. Thunberg has toured all around the world to have her voice heard, her intention clear, and her message communicated.
GOOD READ: Australia's Greta Thunberg Moment? Melbourne Student Sues Government
What are the achievements of Greta Thunberg?
Thunberg advocates that fundamental change is the only thing required in the existing system to bring climate change under control. She continues to inspire the whole world (even the Pope!) to make efforts for a better tomorrow.
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Below are a few of the achievements of Thunberg- an idol we desperately need today-
- Thunberg was named Time Magazine's Person of the Year 2019, the youngest titleholder ever.
- In 2019, she was nominated for the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize.
- She has been one of the most cherished speakers at international meetings, including the UN's 2019 climate change gathering in New York and the World Economic Forum 2020 in Davos.
- Thunberg receives ample global appreciation. Broadcaster and naturalist Sir David Attenborough says that she has achieved things that many others have failed to do. Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai once said that Thunberg was her only friend for who she could skip school.
Notably, even the pandemic could not stop Thunberg's activism as her strikes moved online. Her impact is such that she was the subject of a study about the "Greta Thunberg Effect”!
