#HowDareYou: Teen Activist Greta Thunberg's Fight against Climate Change

Climate activist Greta Thunberg is getting more and more popular all because of the speech she gave for the sake of climate change. Yes, recently on Monday while addressing the world leaders' inaction towards the climate crisis at the UN Climate Summit 2019, she gave a passionate speech for the battle against climate change.

What Is She Doing?

Source = Nst

The teen climate activist Greta Thunberg took a two-week-long journey on a solar-powered sailboat to reach the United States this month. After sailing across the Atlantic Ocean, she arrived in New York City to call attention to the need for quick action to save the planet.

In a stinging speech on Monday, she not only confronted the world leaders by saying, "How dare you?" but also condemned them for failing to take strong measures to combat climate change.

The Swedish Climate crusader Thunberg said in her impassioned speech,

“This is all wrong. I shouldn’t be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you?
You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. People are suffering, people are dying, and entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction and all you can talk about is money and fairytales of eternal economic growth.”

She told the government,

“You are still not mature enough to tell it like it is. You are failing us. But the young people are starting to understand your betrayal.”

She added,

“How dare you pretend that this can be solved with just 'business as usual' and some technical solutions? With today's emissions levels, that remaining CO2 budget will be entirely gone within less than 8 1/2 years.
There will not be any solutions or plans presented in line with these figures here today, because these numbers are too uncomfortable. And you are still not mature enough to tell it like it is.”

The visibly emotional Thunberg said,

“The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us I say we will never forgive you. We will not let you get away with this. Right here, right now is where we draw the line.”

She further said,

“You say you hear us and that you understand the urgency. But no matter how sad and angry I am, I do not want to believe that. Because if you really understood the situation and still kept on failing to act, then you would be evil. And that I refuse to believe.”

When Did Her Journey Begin?

Source = Timedotcom

Greta’s journey started way before this recent speech of hers that has led to people standing up and thinking seriously about the alarming climate crisis.

Greta, whose age is just 16 years now, started her journey of fighting against the climate crisis and deteriorating ecosystems in August 2018 a year ago when she went on a school strike.

The teenager had staged the first 'skolstrejk för klimatet' (school strike for climate change) in her home country Sweden outside the Swedish parliament building on August 20, 2018.

At that time, she posted on Instagram,

“Vi barn gör ju oftast inte som ni säger åt oss att göra, vi gör som ni gör. Och eftersom ni vuxna skiter i min framtid, så gör jag det med.
Jag skolstrejkar för klimatet fram till valdagen.”

The below photo of Greta went viral just before the summit and protest held by millions of young people.

Source = Tosshub

Greta started the battle by doing strike in protest of the record-breaking heatwave that Europe faced and forest fires that had ravaged Sweden. At first, Greta staged protests alone, but gradually, people saw her and joined her. And then, she created a wave that has brought in more change and awareness in just one year.

She also made #fridaysforfuture in trend, and one of her posts was:

“Over 4 million on #ClimateStrike today. In 163 countries. And counting... ‬Thank you all!! ‪And if you belong to the small number of people who feel threatened by us, then we have some very bad news for you: ‬
‪This is just the beginning. Change is coming - like it or not. #FridaysForFuture ‬ (photo Shadia Fayne Wood)”

Moreover, the alarming facts about the climate crisis affect her more than an average person because Greta was also diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome. When she was just eight years old, she first learned about the crisis.

She went into depression at the age of 11, after which she lost up to 10 kg weight in just two months and stopped going to school. And, she discussed her environmental concerns with her parents during this time at home.

To call attention to climate change ahead of the United Nations summit, she even made the 15-day voyage from Plymouth, England to New York City on board a yacht, where she spoke yesterday. Keeping in mind that, she left no carbon footprint in the journey that was made.

Reactions from World Leaders & Celebrities

Source = Nyoozflix

After the speech and hashtag went viral, many people, including world leaders and celebrities, came forward and reacted to the video. Some of them supported, but some of them also spoke against her. Also, many talked about the UN event where all this happened.

Isabel Cavelier, who is now a senior adviser at the Mission 2020 climate group, a former climate negotiator for Colombia, said,

“There’s a big dissonance between every leader saying to Greta ‘we hear you’ and the commitments they are putting on to the table.
China said absolutely nothing new, India mentioned commitments made in the past, the US, Canada and Australia aren’t here. We are seeing governments showing up empty-handed. There’s a feeling that the big emitters are holding things back.”

Alden Meyer, Director of Strategy at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said,

“Thunberg’s speech was very emotional and grounded in science. If I were a world leader I’d feel very uncomfortable. But we’ve seen nothing from the big national leaders, the G20 players. It’s hard to say the summit moved the needle on the emissions curve.”

Marshall Islands’ President, Hilda Heine, talked about her country located on coral atolls in the Pacific which is extremely unsafe to sea-level rise and said,

“Falling short will represent the greatest failure humanity has ever seen. The summit must be the moment we choose survival over selfishness.”

Brett Mason, an Australian Senator, wrote on Twitter,

““How dare you!” @GretaThunberg tells world leaders at #UNGA #ClimateSummit “You are failing us. The eyes of all future generations are upon you. If you choose to fail us, I say we will never forgive you.” #auspol @SBSNews”

He further added in another tweet,

“Prime Minister @ScottMorrisonMP (who is in Chicago and missed today’s #UNGA #ClimateSummit) asked if #Australia is willing to do more to reduce global emissions? “I’m committed to what I took to the Australian people... 26% by 2030” #auspol @SBSNews”

Emmanuel Macron, the French President, invited his counterparts from Chile, Bolivia, and Colombia to a meeting where $500 million in extra funds were pledged by the World Bank, non-profit Conservation International, and Inter-American Development Bank to protect the world's rainforests.

“We can not let our youth spend every Friday demonstrating for the climate and simply answer "everything is fine, we do everything right". We are still far from the account.”

Sam Newman, Australian television personality, wrote,

“This annoying little brat addressed the UN on the so-called climate crisis. WHO lets this shit have a platform? Mendacious, inbred sycophants, that who. #ClimateChangeHoax”

Queensland politician George Christensen changed his Facebook page’s cover photo as a reaction to Greta’s speech, which says-

“Greta Free Zone”

Source = Newsapi

Christensen wrote,

“Back by popular demand just for the Lefties who thought I backed down by replacing this pic as my Facebook cover.
I replaced it because I preferred the flag over Greta Whingeberg. But since it triggers so many Lefties, I’m leaving this here a while!”

Indian celeb Priyanka Chopra took to Twitter and wrote,

“Thank you @gretathunberg for giving us the much needed punch in the face, for bringing your generation together and showing us that we need to know better, do more to save what is most critical. At the end of the day, we only have this one planet. #HowDareYou”

Another Indian celeb Shoojit Sircar wrote,

“I wish Mahatma Gandhi or Swami Vivekananda were alive to hear your appeal.. Then a U turn was possible for climate change. We are committing sin and we will suffer.. Myself feeling helpless and shameful.”

Greta Wants Indian PM Modi to Take Immediate Action

Source = Shethepeople

Earlier in February 2019, she urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take action against Climate Crisis. She said in a video shared by Brut India,

"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 fail, you are going to be seen as one of the worst villains in human history in the future. And you don't want that."

Brut India captioned the video as,

“Greta Thunberg is a 16-year-old climate activist who has inspired thousands of young people worldwide to fight climate change. This is her message to the Indian prime minister.

Greta Thunberg is a 16-year-old climate activist who has inspired thousands of young people worldwide to fight climate change. This is her message to the Indian prime minister. ????????? pic.twitter.com/3FZTztv5Ob

— Brut India (@BrutIndia) February 20, 2019

Greta Thunberg Responds to US President Trump’s Jab

Source = Yimg

After listening to Ms. Thunberg’s passionate speech at UN headquarters, Donald J. Trump,  President of the United States, took to Twitter and wrote,

“She seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future. So nice to see!”

She seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future. So nice to see! https://t.co/1tQG6QcVKO

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 24, 2019

However, after this tweet, Ms. Thunberg did not respond to Mr. Trump’s reaction directly, rather than that she updated her Twitter profile and included this quote there. She edited her bio as,

“a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future”.

Before changing bio to Trump’s words, Ms. Thunberg’s bio was:

“16 year old climate activist with Asperger’s”

Greta Thunberg already has 4.5 million followers on social media platforms, where she documents her international campaigning and travel works.

Watch her Full Speech at UNGA Climate Action Summit 2019 Here:

You Go, Greta!

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