Greta Thunberg: Likeness

“Many people, especially in the US, see countries like Sweden or Norway or Finland as role models – we have such a clean energy sector, and so on. That may be true, but we are not role models. Sweden is one of the top 10 countries in the world when it comes to the highest ecological footprints, according to the WWF – if you count the consumer index, then we are among the worst per capita.In Sweden, the most common argument that we shouldn’t act is that we are such a small country with only 10 million inhabitants – we should focus more on helping other countries. That is so incredibly frustrating, because why should we argue about who or what needs to change first? Why not take the leading role?”

Greta Thunberg

Quoted in Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez met Greta Thunberg: 'Hope is contagious', The Guardian, Emma Brockes https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jun/29/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-met-greta-thunberg-hope-contagious-climate|When (29 June 2019)
2019

Country , Help , People , World

“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 your children.”

Greta Thunberg

2018, "You are stealing our future" (December 2018)

Idea , Bad luck , Children

“You don’t listen to the science because you are only interested in solutions that will enable you to carry on like before. Like now. And those answers don’t exist any more. Because you did not act in time.”

Greta Thunberg book No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference

"You did not act in time": Greta Thunberg's full speech to UK MPs https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/apr/23/greta-thunberg-full-speech-to-mps-you-did-not-act-in-time (23 April 2019)
Cited in No One is Too Small to Make a Difference, Penguin Books, 2019, pages 58 and 67 (ISBN 9780141991740).
2019, "You did not act in time" (April 2019)

Science , Time

“I have Asperger's syndrome and that means I'm sometimes a bit different from the norm. And - given the right circumstances - being different is a superpower. It makes you think differently. And especially in such a big crisis like this one we need to think outside the box. We need to think outside our current system, that we need people that think outside the box and who aren't like everyone else.”

Greta Thunberg

Greta Thunberg Explains Why Her Asperger's Is A 'Superpower' That Helps Her Activism https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/greta-thunberg-arpergers-activism_n_5d77e5cee4b064513575d260, HuffPost (10 September 2019)
2019

Thinking , Box , People , Making love

“We have not come here to beg world leaders to care. You have ignored us in the past and you will ignore us again. You've run out of excuses and we're running out of time. We've come here to let you know that change is coming, whether you like it or not. The real power belongs to the people.”

Greta Thunberg book No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference

You Are Stealing Our Future: Greta Thunberg, 15, Condemns the World’s Inaction on Climate Change https://www.democracynow.org/2018/12/13/you_are_stealing_our_future_greta, Democracy Now! (13 December 2018)
Cited in No One is Too Small to Make a Difference, Penguin Books, 2019, pages 14-16 (ISBN 9780141991740).
2018, "You are stealing our future" (December 2018)

Time , Past , People , World

“I often talk to people who say, ‘No, we have to be hopeful and to inspire each other, and we can’t tell [people] too many negative things’ . . . But, no — we have to tell it like it is. Because if there are no positive things to tell, then what should we do, should we spread false hope? We can’t do that, we have to tell the truth.”

Greta Thunberg

Quoted in Greta Thunberg: ‘All my life I’ve been the invisible girl,' Leslie Hook https://www.ft.com/content/4df1b9e6-34fb-11e9-bd3a-8b2a211d90d5Financial Times (22 February 2019)
2019

Truth , Falseness , People , Hope

“Here is my speech from the Brilliant Minds conference in Stockholm. Since I don't have the video yet, I'm sharing it like this. Around the year 2030, we will be in a position where we probably set off an irreversible chain reaction beyond human control, that will most likely lead to the end of our civilization as we know it. That is unless in that time, permanent and unprecedented changes in all aspects of industrialized society have taken place. Including a reduction of our CO2 emissions by at least 50%. And please note that these calculations are depending on inventions that have not yet been invented at scale. Furthermore these scientific calculations do not include most unforeseen tipping points and feed back loops. Nor do these calculations include already locked in warming hidden by toxic air pollution. Nor the aspect of equity, which is absolutely necessary to make the Paris Agreement work on a global scale. And these calculations are not opinions or wild guesses.”

Greta Thunberg

Greta Thunberg's FB page https://www.facebook.com/732846497083173/posts/853561781678310?s=723487177&sfns=mo, (15 June 2019)
2019

Change , Time , Dependency , Making love

“I would like to say something that I think people need to know more than how I deal with haters.”

Greta Thunberg

In response to Time editor Edward Felsenthal question about how she dealt with all the haters
2020, Rolling Stone Interview: How one Swedish teenager armed with a homemade sign ignited a crusade and became the leader of a movement, Jack Davison, (March 2020)

Thinking , People

“We are sick and tired of it and we are going to make the change whether they like it or not … We are not going to let them get away any more.”

Greta Thunberg

2021, Response to COP26 (November 2021)
Source: Quoted in “‘You can shove your climate crisis up your arse’: Greta Thunberg sings at Cop26 – video” https://www.theguardian.com/environment/video/2021/nov/02/you-can-shove-your-climate-crisis-up-your-arse-greta-thunberg-sings-at-cop26-video, The Guardian (2 November 2021)

Change

“We can still avoid the worst consequences, we can still turn this around. But not if we continue like today. You have the resources and possibilities to change the story overnight.”

Greta Thunberg

Source: 2021, An Open Letter to the Global Media by Greta Thunberg and Vanessa Nakate (October 2021)

Change

“They invite cherry-picked young people to meetings like this to pretend that they listen to us. But they clearly don’t listen to us. Our emissions are still rising. The science doesn’t lie. We can no longer let the people in power decide what is politically possible. We can no longer let the people in power decide what hope is. Hope is not passive. Hope is not blah, blah, blah. Hope is telling the truth. Hope is taking action. And hope always comes from the people.”

Greta Thunberg

Source: 'Blah, blah, blah’: Greta Thunberg lambasts leaders over climate crisis, by Damian Carrington, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/sep/28/blah-greta-thunberg-leaders-climate-crisis-co2-emissions, (28 September 2021)

People , Truth , Lie , Science