April 14, 2020
Her movement caught people’s attention and has grown to a worldwide action network that combines young school children and their parents and grand parents. Greta began informing her own community and asking them to take a stance and to act when most were not aware yet about climate change.4 Thunberg continued her advocacy and while she tries to avoid traveling, she now has people all over the world sharing her same values. Thunberg started to think bigger, she informed herself of what countries were polluting the most. Thunberg learned that Argentina, Brazil, France, Turkey, and Germany were some of the major contributors of carbon and greenhouse gas pollution in the world. So, she began a lawsuit against these five countries which claims that carbon-polluting countries are violating the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child 5 She travels by land and oceans, instead of by airplanes that produce the highest levels of greenhouse gases. During these trips, she gives interviews to well known shows where she explains more of her concerns and why she began this movement. In one of the shows she mentioned that she began this movement with the thought of “even if I can’t make that big of a difference in this issue, I could look at myself in the mirror and know I did something.”6 Thunberg never forgets to express her frustrations about how the people in charge, are leaving her generation with the mess they created and that they continue to worsen. She is saddened about the amounts of forests that are being destroyed and animals are going extinct because of human activity.
Greta Thunberg continues her fight for progress, pushes for small actions to be implemented by the current leaders around the world. People hear her warnings and her call to action and discuss what a great impact she has been making in just under two years of activism. At only seventeen years old, Greta Thunberg has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for 2020.11 She was also chosen as the person of the year 2019 by TIME’s Magazine 12 Thunberg gives tips on how to become more Eco-friendly giving us the chance to take action. While she has stopped flying to minimize green gas emissions, other solutions are more practical, she has become vegan, she has adopted the shop-stop philosophy (which is not buying anything unless you absolutely have to), but most importantly she continues communicating the importance of slowing climate change to people in power. Sometimes life gets in the way or we have other responsibilities that do not allow us to be as involved in movements we support. However, is it responsible to dismiss the very real impacts of global warming because these are merely inconveniences in our lives while climate change severely impacts millions around the world? We must start making small adjustments to our daily lives, if we are to hope for a better future.
Climate change
climate strike
green gas emissions
Greta Thunberg
high school student
nodel prize nomination
Kendall Guajardo
I loved this article! At the end when the author talks about little changes in our lives may make a huge difference that really encompasses what being environmentally friendly is. I think a lot of people have this misconception that trying to better our planet means less economic growth and more uncertainty because of our population size, however, the huge impact we make due to our over consumption in the United States means we can make a world of a difference just by changing something small. It is unfathomable that leaders of the free world try to put down young adults who are trying to better our country along with the most impacted countries due to our over consumption and horrendous labor violations overseas. Let this be an example that social media is a powerful tool and we can use it for good.
18/04/2020
12:13 pm
Arsema Abera
This was a descriptive article, I did, however, saw a documentary prior to reading this article and I was astonished in how a 17-year-old teenager would advocate something most people have forgotten about. I also saw that Greta Thunberg was nominated for a Nobel prize of 2019 and this proves to show that her hard work has made a tremendous effect.
18/04/2020
12:13 pm
Nelly Perez
Greta Thunberg shared a voice to speak up about how big of an issue climate change is. She was only seven when she was aware of the issue. She’s inspired young people and adults to speak up more about climate change. Greta has been upset at how people in the higher ups are not doing anything about the issue. Great article!
19/04/2020
12:13 pm
Estefanie Santiago Roman
Awesome article! It is truly amazing what the passion of one single individual can change. It is truly sad to see how some people take climate change as a joke, and go on about their day without thinking of the consequences of their actions. We often say that it is up to our generation to straighten things out to create a better future, but people don’t realize that it should be a collective effort. Greta is truly an amazing activist for being recognized at such a young age and for making people think twice about putting teens/kids ideas down.
19/04/2020
12:13 pm
Andrea Degollado
This was a great article!I think its amazing to read how young people can actually have an impact in many things. Many people don’t take into consideration many kids or teenagers because they view them as that but this article shows that when given the opportunity they can have a great impact. Its sad to read how many people don’t take climate change as a serious issue but merely a joke. This shows we can make an impact through social media and how we can use it for good.
20/04/2020
12:13 pm
Antonio Holverstott
Greta Thunberg is more active than most people her age. In some ways, Greta is a young female Swedish version of Al Gore for our times. Based on that fact, that shows that those who are older are not fulfilling their posts of being wise leaders for the younger generation on matters such as climate change. In turn, this vacuum is opened up for those who are younger like Greta.
22/04/2020
12:13 pm
Giselle Garcia
This was such an inspiring article. Greta Thunberg demonstrates that anyone, regardless of age, can make a difference and stand up for what you believe in. She has definitely instigated a movement for change and brought upon a conversation of the issues of climate change. I admire her bravery and determination, especially in front of politicians, when she spoke honestly of her feelings about their actions.
23/04/2020
12:13 pm
Sofia Almanzan
Great Article! I think many people seriously underestimate the power that kids/teenagers can have if the adults would only give them the chance. Greta is a great advocate for supporting change just like the students from Parkland high school. Each one of these students knew their position and decided to act anyway and they have created successful campaigns for change.
15/04/2020
12:13 pm