• Who is Greta Thunberg
• Environmental activism
• The speeches to the powerful
• Our house is on fire, the book by Greta Thunberg
• I am Greta

Who is Greta Thunberg

Greta Tintin Eleonora Ernman Thunberg was born on January 3, 2003 in Stockholm, Sweden. She was the daughter of opera singer Malena Ernman and actor Svante Thunberg, at the age of 13 she was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome .

At the age of 16, she became a world emblem of environmental activism thanks to a series of positions, aimed at underlining the urgency of putting the climate emergency at the center of the global political agenda.

In 2019 she was elected ” Person of the Year ” by Time and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize .

Environmental activism

Stockholm, 20 August 2018. Greta Thunberg, who was attending the ninth year of a school in the Swedish capital, has decided to go on strike . And so, every day during school hours until the legislative elections of 9 September 2018, she sat in front of the Parliament of her country, starting a real ” school strike for the climate “.

The intent was, in fact, to turn the spotlight on environmental issues, following the exceptional heat waves and fires of extraordinary intensity that hit Sweden that summer. In particular, Greta asked politicians to adapt to European regulations by limiting polluting emissions and implementing climate-saving strategies. 

After the elections, Greta continued to strike in front of Parliament every Friday. It is on the momentum of her protest that the international student movement Fridays for Future was born , to which hundreds of thousands of students all over the world have joined over the months.

The demonstrations followed one another, spreading and expanding from week to week until, on March 15, 2019, the first Climate Strike for Future took place in over 1,700 cities on all continents.

Speeches to politicians

Teenager Greta Thunberg has never shown awe in front of the world’s major political decision-makers , to whom she addressed very severe warnings at the summits that saw them gathered to discuss the main environmental urgencies.

 On 4 December 2018 he spoke at COP24 , the United Nations summit on climate change held in Katowice, Poland, explaining how the climate emergency underway is “the most serious crisis humanity has ever suffered “.

On the last official day of work, he said: “ You only speak of an eternal growth of the green economy as you are too afraid of being unpopular. You only talk about continuing with the same bad ideas that led us to this mess, even when the only sensible thing to do would be to pull the emergency brake . […] The suffering of many people pays for the luxury of a few. If it is impossible to find solutions within this system, then we have to change the system . […]  You have run out of excuses, and we are running out of time . […] The real power belongs to the people ”.

On January 25, 2019, she spoke with a very tough speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos , aimed at making people understand the panic that should be felt in the face of climate change.

On April 16, 2019 he spoke to the Environment Commission of the European Parliament , appealing to the powerful to make important decisions to combat global warming.

Between 14 and 28 August 2019 he crossed the Atlantic Ocean from Plymouth to New York aboard a yacht equipped with solar panels and underwater turbines. The goal of the carbon neutral crossing was participation in the United Nations Summit on Climate Action in New York and the COP 25 climate change conference in Santiago de Chile.  

On 20 September he led the World Climate Strike in New York , while the following days he spoke at the UN Summit of Youth for Climate at the UN General Assembly.

” How dare you? (How dare you?) ”Are the words addressed to the major politicians of the Earth by now passed into the history of world environmentalism.

“ You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words, and I am among the luckiest. People are suffering, they are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are at the beginning of a mass extinction. And all you talk about is money and tales of eternal economic growth? How dare you? “She declared angrily on that occasion.” You are failing us, but young people are beginning to understand your betrayal, the eyes of all future generations are on you, and if you choose to fail we will never forgive you . “

Our house is on fire

” Our house is on fire ” is the title of Greta Thunberg’s book, which was co-written with the other members of her family. In these pages, the young activist explains how her interest in environmental issues was born. She also tells how her closest relatives have decided to support her battle, hardly reconciling the new commitments with the rhythms imposed by the Asperger’s syndrome, from which the girl is affected.

The title of the book takes up a warning pronounced in Davos by Greta herself, to make politicians understand the gravity of the climate emergency and the need to urgently implement severe measures to contain emissions globally.

I am Greta, the documentary

” I am Greta ” (Sweden 2020, 90 ‘) is a documentary by director Nathan Grossman, which tells the story and the ascending parable of Greta Thunberg’s environmental activism: from the first day of the School’s Climate Strike, to participation in major world debates, the progressive involvement of young people from all over the planet, up to the creation of a real mass environmental youth movement.

At the heart of the documentary, there is the girl’s mission to make the world understand the urgency to take clear and decisive measures against global warming, but not only. I am Greta also highlights the difficulties and frailties of the protagonist , struggling with a growing and overwhelming awareness of her role.

” It is too much responsibility for us kids, we shouldn’t be fighting for the planet, but it should be the adults and the people in power who caused the problem to take responsibility ,” said Greta.