Greta Thunberg: Difference between revisions

Browse history interactively ← Previous edit Next edit →Content deleted Content addedVisual WikitextInline

Revision as of 23:24, 25 January 2019 view sourceTJMSmith (talk \| contribs)Autopatrolled, Administrators65,853 edits added Category:Swedish women activists using HotCat ← Previous edit		Revision as of 23:26, 25 January 2019 view source TJMSmith (talk \| contribs)Autopatrolled, Administrators65,853 edits +Category:Swedish children; +Category:21st-century Swedish women using HotCat, {{Authority control}}Next edit →
Line 106:		Line 106:

	{{Portal bar\|Biography\|Sweden\|Environment\|Politics\|Global warming\|Social movements}}		{{Portal bar\|Biography\|Sweden\|Environment\|Politics\|Global warming\|Social movements}}

			{{Authority control}}

	{{DEFAULTSORT:Thunberg, Greta}}		{{DEFAULTSORT:Thunberg, Greta}}
Line 114:		Line 116:
	]		]
	]		]
			]
			]

Revision as of 23:26, 25 January 2019

Greta Thunberg
Greta Thunberg, in 2018
Born	(2003-01-03) 3 January 2003 (age 21) Sweden
Occupation(s)	Student and activist
Known for	School strike for climate outside Swedish Parliament and speaking at the COP24
Movement	Climate movement
Relatives	Malena Ernman (mother) Svante Thunberg (father) Olof Thunberg (grandfather) Svante Arrhenius (ancestor on her father's side)

Greta Thunberg (Swedish pronunciation: [²greːta ²tʉːnˌbærj]; born 3 January 2003) is a Swedish climate activist. In August 2018, she became a prominent figure for starting the first school strike for climate outside the Swedish parliament building, raising awareness of global warming. In November 2018, she spoke at TEDxStockholm, and in December 2018 she addressed the United Nations Climate Change Conference.

Life

Greta Thunberg was born on 3 January 2003. Her mother is Swedish opera singer Malena Ernman and her father is actor Svante Thunberg, who is named after his ancestor Svante Arrhenius. Her grandfather is actor and director Olof Thunberg.

Thunberg has been diagnosed with autism. She insisted that her family become vegan and give up flying.

Student strikes for climate

Main article: School strike for climate

On 20 August 2018, Thunberg, then in ninth grade, decided to not attend school until the 2018 Sweden general election on 9 September after heat waves and wildfires in Sweden. Her demands were that the Swedish government reduce carbon emissions as per the Paris Agreement, and she protested via sitting outside the Riksdag every day during school hours with the sign Skolstrejk för klimatet (school strike for the climate).

After the general elections, she continued to strike only on Fridays, which gained worldwide attention. She inspired school students across the globe to take part in student strikes. As of December 2018, more than 20,000 students held strikes in at least 270 cities in countries including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, Germany, Finland, Denmark, Japan, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. In Australia, thousands of school students were inspired by Thunberg to strike on Fridays, ignoring Prime Minister Scott Morrison's comments of "more learning in schools and less activism".

Other activism

Greta Thunberg participated in the Rise for Climate demonstration outside the European Parliament in Brussels and the Declaration of Rebellion organized by Extinction Rebellion in London.

On 24 November 2018, she spoke at TEDxStockholm. She speaks about autism as a way to explain why she cannot understand the inaction of governments and of citizens on climatic threat. Towards the conclusion of her talk, Thunberg said, "We've had thirty years of pep-talking and selling positive ideas. And I'm sorry, but it doesn't work. Because if it would have, the emissions would have gone down by now—they haven't."

On 4 December 2018, Thunberg addressed the COP24 United Nations climate change summit. On 12 December 2018, Thunberg again addressed the COP24 plenary assembly, stating:

"You only speak of a green eternal economic growth because you are too scared of being unpopular. You only talk about moving forward with the same bad ideas that got us into this mess, even when the only sensible thing to do is pull the emergency brake. You are not mature enough to tell it like it is. Even that burden you leave to us children." "And if solutions within the system are so impossible to find, then maybe we should change the system itself"

On 23 January 2019, Thunberg arrived in Davos after her 32-hour train journey, in contrast to the many delegates who arrived by up to 1,500 individual private jets flights, to continue her climate campaign at the World Economic Forum.

Prizes and awards

Greta Thunberg was one of the winners of Svenska Dagbladet's debate article writing competition on the climate for young people in May 2018. In the World Nature Fund's prize the young environmental hero of the year 2018, Thunberg is one of the three nominees. Thunberg was nominated for the electricity company Telge Energi's prize for children and young people who promote sustainable development, Children's Climate Prize, but declined because the finalists would have to fly to Stockholm. In November 2018, she was awarded the Fryshuset scholarship of the Young Role Model of the Year. In December 2018, Time magazine named Thunberg one of the world's 25 most influential teenagers of 2018.