No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference Greta Thunberg

Strike at the Riksdag

In August 2018, Thunberg began the school climate strikes and public speeches for which she has become an internationally recognized climate activist. In an interview with Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!, she said she got the idea of a climate strike after school shootings in the United States in February 2018 led several youths to refuse to return to school.[25] These teen activists at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, went on to organize the March for Our Lives in support of greater gun control.[45][46] In May 2018, Thunberg won a climate change essay competition held by Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet. In part, she wrote: "I want to feel safe. How can I feel safe when I know we are in the greatest crisis in human history?"[47]

After the paper published her article, Thunberg was contacted by Bo Thorén from Fossil Free Dalsland, a group interested in doing something about climate change. Thunberg attended a few of their meetings. At one of them, Thorén suggested that school children could strike for climate change.[48] Thunberg tried to persuade other young people to get involved but "no one was really interested", so eventually she decided to go ahead with the strike by herself.[25]

On 20 August 2018, Thunberg, who had just started ninth grade, decided not to attend school until the 2018 Swedish general election on 9 September; her protest began after the heat waves and wildfires during Sweden's hottest summer in at least 262 years.[35] Her demands were that the Swedish government reduce carbon emissions in accordance with the Paris Agreement, and she protested by sitting outside the Riksdag every day for three weeks during school hours with the sign Skolstrejk för klimatet ("School strike for climate").[49][50]

Thunberg said her teachers were divided about her missing class to make her point. She says: "As people, they think what I am doing is good, but as teachers, they say I should stop."[35]

Social media activism

After Thunberg posted a photo of her first strike day on Instagram and Twitter, other social media accounts quickly took up her cause. High-profile youth activists amplified her Instagram post, and on the second day, other activists joined her. A representative of the Finnish bank Nordea quoted one of Thunberg's tweets to more than 200,000 followers. Thunberg's social media profile attracted local reporters, whose stories earned international coverage in little more than a week.[51]

One Swedish climate-focused social media company was We Don't Have Time (WDHT), founded by Ingmar Rentzhog. He said her strike began attracting public attention only after he turned up with a freelance photographer and posted Thunberg's photograph on his Facebook page and Instagram account, and a video in English that he posted on the company's YouTube channel.[52] Rentzhog subsequently asked Thunberg to become an unpaid youth advisor to WDHT. He then used her name and image without her knowledge or permission to raise millions for a WDHT for-profit subsidiary, We Don't Have Time AB, of which he is the chief executive officer.[53] Thunberg stated that she received no money from the company[52] and terminated her volunteer advisor role with WDHT once she realized they were making money from her name.[54]

Throughout the autumn of 2018, Thunberg's activism evolved from a solitary protest to taking part in demonstrations throughout Europe, making several high-profile public speeches, and mobilizing her followers on social media platforms. In December, after Sweden's 2018 general election, Thunberg continued to school strike—but only on Fridays. She inspired school students across the globe to take part in her Friday school strikes. In December alone, more than 20,000 students held strikes in at least 270 cities.[55]

Thunberg spoke out against the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Undergraduate) 2020 and Joint Entrance Examination 2020 entrance exams, which were conducted in India in September. She said it was unfair for students to have to appear for exams during a global pandemic. She also said that India's students had been deeply impacted by the floods that hit states such as Bihar and Assam, which caused mass destruction.[56]

On 3 February 2021, Thunberg tweeted[57] her support of the ongoing 2020–2021 Indian farmers' protest. Effigies of Thunberg were burned in Delhi by nationalists who opposed the farmers' protests.[58] Thunberg's tweet was criticized by the BJP-led Indian government, which said that it was an internal matter.[59] In her initial tweet, Thunberg linked to a document that provided a campaigning toolkit for those who wanted to support the farmers' protest. It contained advice on hashtags and how to sign petitions, and it also included suggested actions beyond those directly linked to the farmers' protest. She soon deleted the tweet, saying the document was "outdated", and linked to a different one[60][61] "to enable anyone unfamiliar with the ongoing farmers protests in India to better understand the situation and make decisions on how to support the farmers based on their own analysis."[62][63] The Indian climate activist who edited the toolkit, Disha Ravi, was arrested under the charges of sedition and criminal conspiracy on 16 February 2021.[64]

Protests and speeches in Europe

Thunberg's speech during the plenary session of the 2018 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP24) went viral.[65] She said that the world leaders present were "not mature enough to tell it like it is".[66] In the first half of 2019, she joined various student protests around Europe, and was invited to speak at various forums and parliaments. At the January 2019 World Economic Forum, Thunberg gave a speech in which she declared: "Our house is on fire."[67] She addressed the British, European and French parliaments; in the latter case several right-wing politicians boycotted her.[68][69] In a short meeting with Thunberg, Pope Francis thanked her and encouraged her to continue her activism.[70]

By March 2019, Thunberg was still staging her regular protests outside the Swedish parliament every Friday, where other students occasionally joined her. According to her father, her activism did not interfere with her schoolwork, but she had less spare time.[71] She finished lower secondary school with excellent grades: 14 As and three Bs.[72] In July 2019, Time magazine reported Thunberg was taking a "sabbatical year" from school, intending to travel in the Americas while meeting people from the climate movement on her way to attend and address COP25.[73]

Sabbatical year

In August 2019, Thunberg sailed across the Atlantic Ocean from Plymouth, England, to New York City, in the 60-foot (18 m) racing yacht Malizia II, equipped with solar panels and underwater turbines. The trip was announced as a carbon-neutral transatlantic crossing serving as a demonstration of Thunberg's declared beliefs of the importance of reducing emissions.[74] The voyage took 15 days, from 14 to 28 August 2019. France 24 reported that several crew members would fly to New York to sail the Malizia II yacht back to Europe.[75] On Thunberg's return voyage aboard the La Vagabonde catamaran, she was quoted that she chose sailing as a way to send a message to the world that there is no real sustainable option to travel across the oceans.[76] While in New York, Thunberg was invited to give testimony in the US House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis on 18 September. Instead of testifying, she gave an eight-sentence statement and submitted the IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C as evidence.[77]

UN Climate Action Summit

     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. And yet I'm one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!

— Greta Thunberg, New York[78]23 September 2019

On 23 September 2019, Thunberg attended the UN Climate Action Summit in New York City.[79][80] That day the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) hosted a press conference where Thunberg joined 15 other children, including Ayakha Melithafa, Alexandria Villaseñor, Catarina Lorenzo, and Carl Smith.

Together, the group announced they had made an official complaint against five nations that were not on track to meet the emission reduction targets they committed to in their Paris Agreement pledges: Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, and Turkey.[81][82] The complaint challenged these countries under the Third Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Protocol is a quasi-judicial mechanism that allows children or their representatives, who believe their rights have been violated, to bring a complaint before the relevant "treaty body", the Committee on the Rights of the Child.[83] If the complaint succeeds, the countries will be asked to respond, but any suggestions are not legally binding.[84][85]

Autumn global climate strikes

In late September 2019 Thunberg entered Canada where she participated in climate protests in the cities of Montreal, Edmonton and Vancouver, including leading a climate rally as part of the 27 September 2019 Global Climate Strike in Montreal.[86] The school strikes for climate on 20 and 27 September 2019 were attended by over four million people, according to one of the co-organisers.[87] Hundreds of thousands took part in the protest, described as the largest in the city's history. The mayor of Montreal gave her the Freedom of the City. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was in attendance, and Thunberg spoke briefly with him.[88] While in the United States, Thunberg participated in climate protests in New York City with Alexandria Villaseñor and Xiye Bastida, in Washington, D.C., with Jerome Foster II, Iowa City, Los Angeles, Charlotte, Denver with Haven Coleman, and the Standing Rock Indian Reservation with Tokata Iron Eyes. In various cities, Thunberg's keynote speech began by acknowledging that she was standing on land that originally belonged to Indigenous peoples, saying: "In acknowledging the enormous injustices inflicted upon these people, we must also mention the many enslaved and indentured servants whose labour the world still profits from today."[89][90]

Participation at COP25

Thunberg had intended to remain in the Americas to travel overland to attend the 2019 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP25) originally planned in Santiago, Chile, in December. However, it was announced on short notice that COP25 was to be moved to Madrid, Spain, because of serious public unrest in Chile.[91] Thunberg has refused to fly because of the carbon emissions from air travel, so she posted on social media that she needed a ride across the Atlantic Ocean. Riley Whitelum and his wife, Elayna Carausu, two Australians who had been sailing around the world aboard their 48-foot (15 m) catamaran La Vagabonde, offered to take her. So on 13 November 2019, Thunberg set sail from Hampton, Virginia, for Lisbon, Portugal. Her departing message was the same as it has been since she began her activism: "My message to the Americans is the same as to everyone—that is to unite behind the science and to act on the science."[6][92][93]

Thunberg arrived in the Port of Lisbon on 3 December 2019,[94][95] then travelled on to Madrid to speak at COP25 and to participate with the local Fridays for Future climate strikers. During a press conference before the march, she called for more "concrete action", arguing that the global wave of school strikes over the previous year had "achieved nothing" because greenhouse gas emissions were still rising—by 4% since 2015.[96][97]

Further activism in Europe and end of sabbatical year

On 30 December 2019, Thunberg was guest editor of the BBC Radio's flagship current affairs programme, the Today Programme.[98] Thunberg's edition of the programme featured interviews on climate change with Sir David Attenborough, Bank of England chief Mark Carney, Massive Attack's Robert Del Naja, and Shell Oil executive Maarten Wetselaar. The BBC subsequently released a podcast[99] containing these interviews and other highlights. On 11 January 2020, Thunberg called on German company Siemens to stop the delivery of railway equipment to the controversial Carmichael coal mine, operated by a subsidiary of Indian company Adani Group in Australia,[100] but on 13 January, Siemens said that it would continue to honour its contract with Adani.[101]

On 21 January 2020, Thunberg returned to the World Economic Forum held in Davos, Switzerland, delivered two speeches, and participated in panel discussions hosted by The New York Times and the World Economic Forum. Thunberg used many of the themes contained in her previous speeches, but focused on one in particular: "Our house is still on fire." Thunberg joked that she cannot complain about not being heard, saying: "I am being heard all the time."[102][103][104]

In February 2020, Thunberg travelled to Oxford University to meet Malala Yousafzai, a Nobel Peace Prize-winning Pakistani activist for female education who had been shot in the head by the Taliban as a schoolgirl. Thunberg was later to join a school strike in Bristol.[105]

On 4 March 2020, Thunberg attended an extraordinary meeting of the European Parliament's Environment Committee to talk about the European Climate Law. There she declared that she considered the new proposal for a climate law published by the European Commission to be a surrender.[106]

On 24 August 2020, Thunberg ended her "gap year" from school when she returned to the classroom. The COVID-19 pandemic severely restricted travel and meetings in 2020 and 2021.[107][108]

Activism during the COVID-19 pandemic

In early 2020, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic caused worldwide implementation of mitigation measures, including social distancing, quarantine, and face coverings.[109] On 13 March 2020, Thunberg stated that "In a crisis we change our behavior and adapt to the new circumstances for the greater good of society." Thunberg and School Strike for Climate subsequently moved their activities online.[110][111] On 20 August 2020, the second anniversary of Thunberg's first strike, Thunberg and fellow climate activists Luisa Neubauer, Anuna de Wever van der Heyden and Adélaïde Charlier met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin.[112] They subsequently announced plans for another global climate strike on 25 September 2020. Neubauer said that whether the strike in September is virtual in nature or in the streets would be determined by the pandemic situation. At a joint press conference with fellow activists echoing her sentiment, Neubauer said: "The climate crisis doesn't pause."[113]

On 14 December 2020, Thunberg used Twitter to criticize the New Zealand Labour Government's recent climate change emergency declaration as "virtue signalling", tweeting that New Zealand's Labour Government had only committed to reducing less than one percent of New Zealand's carbon emissions by 2025.[114][115] In response, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and climate change Minister James Shaw defended New Zealand's climate change declaration as only the start of the country's climate change mitigation goals.[115][116] On 29 December 2020, during a BBC interview, Thunberg said that climate experts are not being listened to despite the COVID-19 pandemic highlighting the importance of using science to address such issues. She added that the COVID-19 crisis had "shone a light" on how "we cannot make it without science".[117]

Thunberg and other climate activists launched the annual Climate Live concert to highlight climate change. Their first concert was held in April 2021.[118] In May 2021, she addressed the COVID-19 crisis again, when she urged a change in the food production system and the protection of animals and their habitats. Thunberg's comments, which came amidst calls for meat-free alternatives, also addressed health concerns regarding animal welfare and the environment. Thunberg said that the way humans are destroying habitats are the perfect conditions for the spread of diseases and noted zoonotic illnesses such as COVID-19, Zika, Ebola, West Nile fever, SARS, MERS, among others.[119] In July 2021, Thunberg received her COVID vaccine, saying: "I am extremely grateful and privileged to be able to live in a part of the world where I can already get vaccinated. The vaccine distribution around the world is extremely unequal. No one is safe until everyone is safe. But when you get offered a vaccine, don't hesitate. It saves lives."[120]

The inaugural edition of Vogue Scandinavia (August–September 2021) had a cover photograph of Thunberg shot by Swedish photography and conservationist duo Iris and Mattias Alexandrov Klum and an interview with her.[121] The cover shows Thunberg wearing a trench coat while sitting with an Icelandic horse in a woodland outside Stockholm.[121] In the interview, Thunberg criticized the promotional campaigns the fashion industry uses to appear sustainable without "actually doing anything to protect the environment" and called the campaigns "greenwashing".[122] On the same day, she used Twitter to criticize the fashion industry as "a huge contributor" to the climate and ecological "emergency" and "not to mention its impact on the countless workers and communities who are being exploited around the world in order for some to enjoy fast fashion that many treat as disposables."[123] Thunberg's wearing of wool during the photoshoot garnered criticism from other vegans, who said it promoted animal cruelty. According to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), she was unaware that the clothing was made of real animal-derived wool.[124]

On 28 September 2021, Thunberg criticized U.S. president Joe Biden, British prime minister Boris Johnson, Indian prime minister Narendra Modi and other world leaders over their promises to address the climate crisis in a speech at the Youth4Climate Summit in Milan.[125] Thunberg also criticized and doubted organizers of climate conferences, saying, "They invite cherry-picked young people to meetings like this to pretend they are listening to us. But they are not."[126] A month later, Thunberg took part in a protest in London, demanding that the financial system stop funding companies and projects that use fossil fuels, such as coal, oil and natural gas.[127] The protest in London is part of a series taking place at the financial centres around the world, including New York City, San Francisco and Nairobi.[127] She told the BBC journalist Andrew Marr that banks should "stop funding our destruction", ahead of the UN COP26 climate summit.[127] At the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Thunberg attended a panel on climate change hosted by British actress Emma Watson.[128]

In November 2021, Thunberg, along with other climate activists, filed a petition to the United Nations, calling it to declare a level 3 global climate emergency, with the aim of creating a special team that will coordinate the response to the climate crisis at an international level.[129] In December 2021, Thunberg reiterated her criticism of U.S. president Joe Biden, saying, "If you call him a leader – I mean, it's strange that people think of Joe Biden as a leader for the climate when you see what his administration is doing," alluding to the U.S. expansions on use of fossil fuels during the Biden administration. Thunberg further lamented that activists and teenagers are needed in order to bring awareness about climate change.[130]

Post-COVID-19 pandemic

On 6 February 2022, Thunberg condemned the British firm Beowulf and its mining of iron on Sámi land. She said, "We believe that the climate, the environment, clean air, water, reindeer herding, indigenous rights and the future of humanity should be prioritized above the short-term profit of a company. The Swedish government needs to stop the colonization of Sami."[131]

On Friday, 25 February 2022, Thunberg combined her usual Friday climate protests to include opposing the invasion of Ukraine by Russian military forces. She stood outside the Russian embassy in Stockholm holding a sign that read "Stand With Ukraine."[132] On 29 June 2023, Thunberg met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other prominent European figures to form a working group to address ecological damage from the 16-month-old Russian invasion.[133]

On 6 July 2022, Thunberg criticized the European Parliament for voting to label fossil gas and nuclear energy as "green" energy. She called that decision "hypocrisy," and stated that "This will delay a desperately needed real sustainable transition and deepen our dependency on Russian fuels. The hypocrisy is striking, but unfortunately not surprising."[134]

In November 2022, Thunberg, along with over 600 young people from a youth-led Swedish activist group called Auroramålet (translation "the aurora target") that refers to itself as "Aurora" in English, filed a lawsuit in a Stockholm district court against the Swedish government for climate inaction within Sweden. On 21 March 2023, the Nacka District Court allowed the class action lawsuit that posits Sweden has an "insufficient climate policy" to proceed.[135]

In late 2022, Thunberg's The Climate Book[136] was released. It is a compilation in which she brought together over one hundred experts—geophysicists, oceanographers and meteorologists; engineers, economists and mathematicians; historians, philosophers and indigenous leaders—who wrote essays focusing on changes to the Earth's climate. Thunberg also contributed writings to the book and is credited as its author. She donated her copyright and all royalties generated by the book to her foundation[137][138] and will not personally profit from sales or other commercial uses. While on her 2022 midterm Autumn break from school, Thunberg embarked on a publicity campaign[139] for the book's initial release, which occurred in the UK on 27 October 2022 and in Australia on 1 November 2022; it is published under Penguin's Allen Lane Imprint books. On 14 February 2023, the Climate Book was released in the United States and elsewhere.[140] An extract from The Climate Book and reviews are available.[141][142][143][144]

On 14 January 2023, Thunberg spoke during a protest in Lützerath, calling on the German authorities to stop the expansion of a nearby coal mine.[145] She was detained along with other activists by German police while demonstrating at the opencast coal mine of Garzweiler 2, around 9 km from the village on 17 January, after police warned the group that they would be detained unless they moved away from the edge of the mine. The mine's owner RWE had earlier agreed with the government on demolishing Lützerath in exchange for a faster exit from coal and the saving of five villages originally slated for destruction. She was released the same day after an identity check.[146]

Post-high school graduation

On 9 June 2023, Thunberg graduated high school and marked the day by attending what would technically be her last school strike for climate protest before receiving her diploma. She wore the Swedish traditional graduation white dress and white studentmössa (cap) to the protest. She vowed to continue, saying that her "fight has only just begun."[147][148] In Thunberg's subsequent protest pictures that she posts to her social media accounts, some of the group photos have featured "School Strike for Climate" signage.

On 19 June 2023, Thunberg took part in a Reclaim the Future protest in Malmö, Sweden, and was charged with disobeying a police order.[149] On 24 July 2023, a trial was held at Malmö District Court where the prosecution presented its case against Thunberg for disobedience to authority after having disrupted traffic and refusing to follow police orders. While she acknowledged that the facts of the case against her were accurate, Thunberg said that due to the existential and global threat to the climate caused by the fossil fuel industry, her protest was a form of self-defence. She was sentenced by the court to pay fines totaling 2,500 SEK (approximately US$240).[150] Within hours after the court convicted her, Thunberg attended a similar protest where Reclaim the Future again blocked oil tankers on a road in Malmö. She was again forcibly removed by police and later criminally charged. On 11 October 2023, Thunberg's second Swedish trial for disobedience (disobeying a police order to disperse) occurred. She was found guilty for the 24 July 2023 incident and ordered to pay fines totaling 4,500 Swedish crowns ($414).[151]

On 4 August 2023, Thunberg cancelled a prearranged appearance that was to occur the following Friday, 11 August, at the Edinburgh International Book Festival to promote her book: The Climate Book. She said that as a climate activist she cannot attend an event sponsored by Baillie Gifford—an investment management firm—due to its connections with the fossil fuel industry.[152] In making the announcement, Edinburgh International Book Festival's Nick Barley said that he was disappointed but respected Thunberg's decision. "I share Greta's view that in all areas of society the rate of progress is not enough." He went on to say: "The book festival exists to give a platform for debate and discussion around key issues affecting humanity today – including the climate emergency . . . We strongly believe that Baillie Gifford are part of the solution to the climate emergency."[153] In its response, Baillie Gifford said that it was not a significant fossil fuel investor, with 2% of its clients' money being invested in companies with some business related to fossil fuels while the market average was 11%.[154]

On 18 October 2023, Thunberg was arrested in London, England, for her part in protesting against the Energy Intelligence Forum, described as the "Oscars of oil".[155] She was charged with failure to comply with a lawful order to disperse, a "condition imposed under Section 14 of the Public Order Act." On 15 November 2023 Thunberg appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court and entered a plea of "not guilty."[156][157] On 2 February 2024 the case against Thunberg, et al., was dismissed by the presiding judge after the prosecution rested its case. The judge agreed with the defence that "the crown had failed to present enough evidence to prove their case".[158]

On 20 October 2023, Thunberg posted a photo during her usual Friday climate protests, showing her and three other protesters holding signs. One sign read "climate justice now" and the other three displayed support for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip amidst the Israel–Hamas war. Her post on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram also included fourteen links to "Palestine solidarity" social media accounts where, she suggested, "you can find information on how you can help."[159] Thunberg was immediately criticized for not condemning Hamas's attack on Israel. The following day Thunberg posted "It goes without saying – or so I thought – that I'm against the horrific attacks by hamas [sic]. As I said, 'the world needs to speak up and call for an immediate ceasefire, justice and freedom for Palestinians and all civilians affected.'" The Israeli Ministry of Education responded to Thunberg's initial "statements in support of Gaza without condemning Hamas" by removing "various references in the educational curriculum that present Thunberg as a role model and a source of inspiration for youth."[160]

On 5 December 2023, Thunberg and three researcher/activists affiliated with Fridays for Future Sweden published an opinion piece in The Guardian to clarify her and FFF Sweden's support for Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip amidst the Israel–Hamas war. The article stated that "All Fridays for Future groups are autonomous, and this article represents the views of nobody but FFF Sweden."[20] They also addressed the criticism that Fridays for Future has been radicalized and is engaging in politics by stating that the organisation has always been political because it is a movement for justice. FFF Sweden believes that "means speaking up when people suffer, are forced to flee their homes or are killed – regardless of the cause."[20]

On 6 April 2024 Thunberg participated in an Extinction Rebellion-lead protest in The Hague, Netherlands, where law enforcement forcibly removed her from blocking a road. She then joined another group of Extinction Rebellion protesters who were blocking a different road and was again removed. The BBC, et al., reported that Thunberg was arrested while other media outlets only mention that she was detained. It is unclear whether criminal charges were—or will be—filed. [161][162][163]

On 23 April 2024 Thunberg was charged with civil disobedience for allegedly ignoring police orders to leave two climate demonstrations which law enforcement claim were blocking Sweden's parliament building on 12 and 14 March. Her refusal to comply with police orders caused her to be forcibly removed. Thunberg entered a plea of not guilty; a trial is set for May 8. [164]