Sixteen-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. In August 2018, Thunberg started skipping school every day and sitting outside the Swedish Parliament instead, demanding immediate attention to tackling climate change and hence safeguarding the planet earth from further damage.
After the general elections were held in Sweden in September 2018, Thunberg began sitting outside Parliament on every Friday, and has since inspired many students across the globe to join her in this fight against climate change and global warming.
In less than a year, Thunberg has addressed many gatherings of world leaders to put forward her views and demands for a cleaner earth. In January 2019, she was invited to speak at the World Economic Forum in Davos (video above).
“At places like Davos, people like to tell success stories but, their financial success has come with an unthinkable price tag, and on climate change, we have to acknowledge that we have failed,” Thunberg had said in Davos.
In February 2019, Thunberg attended a European Union conference and said that she, along with other children fighting against climate change, are battling not only for their own future but also for everyone else’s.
Thunberg even had a message for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi: “If you keep on going like this, doing business as usual, and just talking about and bragging about the little victories then you are going to fail.”
Although PM Modi is known for giving impetus to the renewable energy sector, according to a Greenpeace report, 15 of the top 20 worst cities in terms of air pollution are in India.
Greta was a TedXStockholm speaker in December 2018 where she moved the audience with her story, her journey and what she thinks needs to be done to reverse the effects of greenhouse gases and climate change.
Thunberg had gained massive popularity after her blunt address to world leaders at COP24 – the Katowice Climate Change Conference – held in December 2018 in Poland. “You are not mature enough to tell it like it is, even that burden you leave to us – children,” she had said. She was selected as one of the 25 most influential teenagers of 2018 by Time magazine.
The worldwide School Strike 4 Climate is was held on Friday, March 15, a day after Thunberg’s nomination was announced.
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