Greta thunberg is a 16 year old Swedish school student who has brought the issue of climate change to the centre stage. It was due to Thunberg’s ceaseless efforts that the “school strikes” for climate became such a widespread phenomenon across about 100 countries around the world. The school strikes for climate so several students come out on the streets to demand concrete and urgent action to tackle climate change. Thunberg has since made several fairy speeches at various International forums such as UN climate talks in Poland(December, 2018), the World Economic Forum in Davos in January this year and the UN Climate Change Summit COP 24 Puspa world leaders to action. Thunberg and the students who follow her their message is loud and clear they are fed up of this casual approach to saving the environment they have run out of patients with these never ending talks which yield little or no results. They want concrete and urgent action on the ground rather than hollow promises. Considering the fact that the students who would be worst affected by climate change they have every right to demand this from the world leaders.
When it comes to the climate the world is fast running out of time and this must be one of the reasons why people have taken to Thunberg’s message so enthusiastically. As thunberg does not stay away from being blunt is not worried about being politically correct.
Addressing the COP 24 a fiery thunberg said ” we have not come here to beg the world leaders to care for our future. They have ignored us in the past and they will ignore us again. We have come here to let them know that change is coming whether they like it or not.”
Is India is one of the biggest carbon emitter thunberg also posted a message for Prime Minister Modi ” Dear Mr Modi, you need to take action now against the climate crisis, not just talking about it because if you keep going on like this, doing business as usual, and just talking about and bragging about the little victories, you are going to fail. And if you feel you are going to be seen as one of the worst villains in human history in the future. And you don’t want that.” Thunberg comes from a family of artists with her mother……. being an Opera singer and father being an actor. She has been nominated by the Norwegian Parliament for the Nobel Peace prize of 2019. If she wins she would be the youngest Nobel Laureate, surfacing the record of Pakistani girl Malala Yousafzai Yousufzai when she was awarded the price at the age of 17 in 2014. Thunberg is radical enough to call for a systemic change of the worlds political economy if the present political economy acts as a barrier to effective action to save the environment. Change the system not the climate is her slogan.
Thunberg started of her activism in August 2018 when she conducted a series of individual demonstrations outside the Riksdag, the Swedish parliament holding up a placard with read “Skolstrejk for Kilimated” ( School Strike for climate). She started her demonstrations outside the Parliament every Friday pressing the Swedish government to reduce carbon emissions so as to meet 2015 Paris agreement goals Thunberg is studying in grade 10 she has given up air travel and become a Vegan for the sake of the environment.
She could be the greatest climate change activist till date as she has brought much-needed urgency to this issue demanding concrete actions rather than hollow promises.
