Environmental activism as child’s play

 

Written by Ali Subhan Kiani

Dec 15 2021 3 min read

Environmental activism as child’s play

From Sweden, a seventeen-year-old Greta Thunberg, born on January 3^rd 2003, has taken the world by storm as one of its youngest environmental activists today. Her message is simple,

To stop the excuses, listen to scientific research, and immediately work towards saving the planet and its people from the dangers of climate change before it’s finally to late.

Activism from the home to the world

From making eco-conscious lifestyle choices at home like recycling, up-cycling, and eating a plant-based diet Thunberg’s activism now takes the form of publicly speaking and demonstrating the seriousness and urgency of climate change.

When Thunberg was fifteen years old, she spent her days outside the Swedish parliament calling for more definitive action on climate change with a sign that read

“school strike for climate”

Although Thunberg’s parents did not initially support her missing school, she gained more attraction from others students, and together with them in august 2018, Thunberg organized a regular school climate strike movement under the name      “Fridays for future”

Through this children and students spread awareness on climate change with a spirit of collectivity and youth that received global attention.

Thunberg’s global attention and achievements

Thunberg keeps the child’s perspective at heart and future in mind in her activism:

“you say you love your children above all else, and yet you are stealing their future in front of their eyes,” Thunberg candidly said at the 2018 U.N. climate change conference in Poland.

In 2019, as part of her eco-conscious mission, she sailed instead of flying to new York to attend the U.N. climate action summit and upon her arrival, about four million students throughout the U.S. took part in a climate strike along with Thunberg.

At the summit, she gave a speech that will be remembered for generations to come. In it, she said: “ people are suffering people are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing we are the beginning of a mass extinction and all you can talk about is money and fairytales of internal economics growth how dear you?”

                                                                         

                                                                                          

Achievements She has been granted on honorary fellowship of the Royal Scottish geographical society Her name has appeared in TIME Magazine’s list of 100 more Most influential people and youngest person of the year 2019 She has met with leading world figures like the pope as well as Pakistan’s very own Malala Yousafzai, and was even nominated for the noble peace prize in both 2019 and 2020

Thunberg as a Role Model

Thunberg is not just a leader for children, but for everyone. From her, we learn that we have an ethical responsibility to our planet and most importantly, we are never too young or too old to take on challenges and stand up for what is right.

“we can’t just continue living as if there was no tomorrow because there is a tomorrow.”

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