Table of Contents
EARLY LIFE
- Greta Thunberg was born on 3 January 2003 in Stockholm, the daughter of opera singer Malena Ernman and actor Svante Thunberg.
- She became depressed and lethargic, stopped talking and eating, and was eventually diagnosed with Asperger syndrome,obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), and selective mutism.
- In late 2018, Thunberg began the school climate strikes and public speeches by which she has become an internationally recognized climate activist.
CLIMATE CHANGE
- Thunberg published a collection of her climate action speeches, No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference, in May 2019 with the earnings being donated to charity.
- In one of her first speeches demanding climate action, Thunberg described the selective mutism aspect of her condition as meaning she only speaks when necessary, and said “now is one of those moments”.
- In August 2019, Thunberg sailed across the Atlantic Ocean from Plymouth, UK, to New York, US, in a 60 ft racing yacht equipped with solar panels and underwater turbines. The trip was announced as a carbon-neutral.
CLIMATE CHANGE
- Thunberg said she first got the idea of a climate strike after school shootings in the United States in February 2018 led to several youths refusing to go back to school.
- On 20 August 2018, Thunberg, who had just started ninth grade, decided to not attend school until the 2018 Swedish general election on 9 September after the heat waves and wildfires during Sweden’s hottest summer in 262 years.
CLIMATE CHANGE
- Her demands were that the Swedish government reduce carbon emissions in accordance with the Paris Agreement, and she protested by sitting outside the Riksdag every day for three weeks during school hours with the sign Skolstrejk för klimatet (school strike for the climate).
- She also handed out leaflets that stated: “I am doing this because you adults are shitting on my future.“
- United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres also endorsed the school strikes initiated by Thunberg, admitting that “My generation has failed to respond properly to the dramatic challenge of climate change.
IMPACT
- She also points out that the strategies adopted by various Governments to limit global warming to 1.5 °C as part of the Paris Agreement are insufficient and the greenhouse gas emissions curve needs to start declining steeply no later than 2020.
- In February 2019, at a conference of the European Economic and Social Committee,she said that the EU must reduce their CO 2 emissions by 80% by 2030, double the 40% goal set in Paris.
IMPACT
- She returned to this theme on her trip to New York on the carbon-neutral yacht. Emblazoned on the yacht’s sail in capital letters were the words “UNITE BEHIND THE SCIENCE”.
- In one of her first statements when she arrived she had a similar message for Donald Trump, admonishing him to “listen to the science“
- Thunberg has inspired a number of her school-aged peers in what has been described as the “Greta Thunberg effect”.
IMPACT
- Inspired by Thunberg, wealthy philanthropists and investors from the United States have donated almost half a million pounds to support Extinction Rebellion and school strike groups to establish the Climate Emergency Fund.
- In February 2019, Thunberg shared a stage with the then President of the European Commission, JeanClaude Juncker, where he outlined “In the next financial period from 2021 to 2027, every fourth euro spent within the EU budget will go towards action to mitigate climate change”
SPEECHES
- COP24 summit. Thunberg addressed the COP24 United Nations climate change summit on 4 December 2018, and also spoke before the plenary assembly on 12 December 2018.
- Davos.On 23 January 2019, Thunberg arrived in Davos after a 32-hour train journey, to continue her climate campaign at the World Economic Forum.she warned the global leaders that “I don’t want you to be hopeful. I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day. And then 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 was on fire—because it is“.
SPEECHES
- European Economic and Social Committee.On 21 February 2019, she spoke at a conference of the European Economic and Social Committee and to European Commission. the EU must reduce their CO 2 emissions by 80% by 2030, double the 40% goal set in Paris.
- Berlin.In the weekend 29–31 March 2019, Thunberg visited Berlin. She spoke in front of some 25,000 people near the Brandenburg Gate, where she argued that “We live in a strange world where children must sacrifice their own education in order to protest against the destruction of their future” SPEECHES • Austrian World Summit R20.In May 2019, Thunberg met with Arnold Schwarzenegger, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, and Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen at the launch of a conference organised by Schwarzenegger to speed up progress toward the Paris Agreement.
- Quoting the most recent IPCC report she said: “If we haven’t made the changes required by approximately the year 2030, we will probably set off an irreversible chain reaction beyond human control. Then we will pass a point of no return which will be catastrophic.” 17,000 people attended the event from 30 different countries.
SPEECHES
- U.S. Congress on climate change On Wednesday, 18 September 2019, Greta appeared before the United States House of Representatives Select Committee on the Climate Crisis” I don’t want you to listen to me. I want you to listen to the scientists. And I want you to unite behind the science. And then I want you to take action.“
- United Nations: Climate Action Summit 2019. On Monday, 23 September 2019, Greta Thunberg addressed the assembled world leaders at the United Nations.At her appearance, Thunberg announced that she and 15 other children were filing a lawsuit against five nations that are not on track to meet the emission reduction targets they committed to in their Paris Agreement pledges: Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, and Turkey.
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