[:en]16-year-old Greta Thunberg was born in Sweden in in the January of 2003. After being inspired by the American youth activists of Parkland school in Florida when they began the movement ‘March for our Lives’. Greta Thunberg took inspiration from this movement to create the ‘School Strike for Climate’ campaign in 2018. 2018 was a huge year for Greta as after wild fires and heat waves hit Sweden she felt compelled to do something; striking from school and protesting outside of the Swedish parliament gave her a platform to project her voice, reaching a huge audience. From August 2018 to September 2018 she protested every day, then, once, the 2018 Swedish elections took place. As her publicity grew so did the movement. By the December of 2018 it was thought that around 20000students took part in ‘School Strikes for Climate’ marches in around 270 cities.
To reduce her own families carbon footprint, she insisted that her family become vegans and that the whole family would give up flying. Within her protesting she aimed to make the government hear her plea. This plea was that the Swedish government reduce carbon emissions in accordance with the Paris agreement. Furthermore, Greta Thunberg insisted that the EU as a whole must reduce their CO2 emissions by at least 80% until 2030 in order to move towards a more sustainable planet. Below are some things that she has said in regards to her movement and ideals. Her efforts have been seen by many and respected. This respect and publicity has gained this young individual a Nobel Peace Prize nomination for her efforts. Below are quotes taken from her talks. In a recent TEDx talk in Stockholm Greta addressed her audience saying that she does not care if what she is doing is not ‘cool’ or ‘weird’ as the climate issue is more important than her social standing. This shows courage and I am in admiration of Greta Thunberg.
“Some people, some companies, some decision makers in particular have known exactly what priceless values they have been sacrificing to continue making unimaginable amounts of money. I think many of you here today belong to that group of people.“
“Our house is on fire” adding “I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day. We owe it to the young people, to give them hope.”
It becomes clear that there is a group of young individuals who want to be heard. Through my research I have found that individuals use craft to spread their message and communicate in times of need when they feel that they useless in times of need of crisis. I want to help this demographic as I believe what they are doing is something we should all support and do are part to join in and listen.[:]
