Latest quotes

„We are facing an existential crisis... it will have a massive impact on our lives in the future, but also now, especially in vulnerable communities. And I think that we should wake up, and we should also try to wake the adults up, because they are the ones who — their generation is the ones who are mostly responsible for this crisis, and we need to hold them accountable.“

— Greta Thunberg Swedish climate change activist 2003
We Are Striking to Disrupt the System... https://www.democracynow.org/2019/9/11/greta_thunberg_swedish_activist_climate_crisis, DemocracyNow (11 September 2019)

Communication, Thinking, Future

„We have lots of unions who are planning to strike, so, I mean, adults striking from their work. And that is so incredibly important to show that this is such an — this is not just for children or teenagers. This is for everyone. And what we are doing, we are not, of course — I mean, we are striking to disrupt the system...“

— Greta Thunberg Swedish climate change activist 2003
After being asked about 900 Amazon workers based in Seattle who will strike on September 20th in solidarity with a global strike: We Are Striking to Disrupt the System... https://www.democracynow.org/2019/9/11/greta_thunberg_swedish_activist_climate_crisis, DemocracyNow (11 September 2019)

Children

„We are about to sacrifice our civilization for the opportunity of a very small number of people to continue to make enormous amounts of money. [... ] But it is the sufferings of the many which pay for the luxuries of the few. [... ] You say that you love your children above everything else. And yet you are stealing their future.“

— Greta Thunberg Swedish climate change activist 2003

Love, Money, Children, People

„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 Swedish climate change activist 2003
Greta Thunberg's FB page https://www.facebook.com/732846497083173/posts/853561781678310?s=723487177&sfns=mo, (15 June 2019)

Making love, Change, Time, Dependency

„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 Swedish climate change activist 2003
Quoted in Greta Thunberg: ‘All my life I’ve been the invisible girl,' Leslie Hook https://www.ft.com/content/4df1b9e6-34fb-11e9-bd3a-8b2a211d90d5 (22 February 2019)

People, Truth, Hope, Falseness

„I want people to unite behind the science... And that is what we have to realize, that that is what we have to do right now.. I’m not the one who’s saying these things. I’m not the one who we should be listening to. And I say that all the time. I say we need to listen to the scientists.“

— Greta Thunberg Swedish climate change activist 2003
We Are Striking to Disrupt the System: An Hour with 16-Year-Old Climate Activist Greta Thunberg https://www.democracynow.org/2019/9/11/greta_thunberg_swedish_activist_climate_crisis, DemocracyNow (11 September 2019)

People, Science, Time

„For way too long, the politicians and the people in power have gotten away with not doing anything to fight the climate crisis, but we will make sure that they will not get away with it any longer. We are striking because we have done our homework and they have not.“

— Greta Thunberg Swedish climate change activist 2003
Teen climate activist Greta Thunberg speaks at four school strikes in a week, video 1:57, Source: Reuters, https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2019/mar/01/teen-climate-activist-greta-thunberg-speaks-at-four-school-strikes-in-a-week-video (1 Mar 2019)

People, Making love, Way, Fight

„We have to understand the emergency of the situation. Our leadership has failed us. Young people must hold older generations accountable for the mess they have created. We need to get angry, and transform that anger into action.“

— Greta Thunberg Swedish climate change activist 2003
Twitter post https://twitter.com/Ocasio2018/status/1076890299773976582 (23 December 2018)

People, Understanding, Anger

„Our house is on fire. I am here to say, our house is on fire. [... ] Adults keep saying: “We owe it to the young people to give them hope.” But I don’t want your hope. I don’t want you to be hopeful. I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day. And then I want you to act. I want you to act as you would in a crisis. I want you to act as if our house is on fire. Because it is.“

— Greta Thunberg Swedish climate change activist 2003
Greta Thunberg, 16, urges leaders to act on climate, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jan/25/our-house-is-on-fire-greta-thunberg16-urges-leaders-to-act-on-climate (25 January 2019) Cited in ', Penguin Books, 2019, pages 19-24 (ISBN 9780141991740).

People, Fear, Hope, Feeling

„For 25 years, countless of people have stood in front of the United Nations Climate Change conference asking our nations’ leaders to stop the emissions. But clearly this has not worked, since the emissions just continue to rise. So I will not ask them anything. Instead, I will ask the people around the world to realize that our political leaders have failed us, because we are facing an existential threat and there is no time to continue down this road of madness.“

— Greta Thunberg Swedish climate change activist 2003
School Strike for Climate: Meet 15-Year-Old Activist Greta Thunberg, Who Inspired a Global Movement https://www.democracynow.org/2018/12/11/meet_the_15_year_old_swedish, ' (11 December 2018)

People, World, Change, Time

„You lied to us. You gave us false hope. You told us that the future was something to look forward to. And the saddest thing is that most children are not even aware of the fate that awaits us. We will not understand it until it’s too late. And yet we are the lucky ones. Those who will be affected the hardest are already suffering the consequences. But their voices are not heard.“

— Greta Thunberg Swedish climate change activist 2003

Fate, Children, Hope, Understanding

„We cannot solve a crisis without treating it as a crisis. [... ] And if solutions within the system are so impossible to find, then maybe we should change the system itself?“

— Greta Thunberg Swedish climate change activist 2003

Change

„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 Swedish climate change activist 2003
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, ' (13 December 2018) Cited in ', Penguin Books, 2019, pages 14-16 (ISBN 9780141991740).

People, World, Change, Time

„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 fairytales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!“

— Greta Thunberg Swedish climate change activist 2003
If world leaders choose to fail us, my generation will never forgive them https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/sep/23/world-leaders-generation-climate-breakdown-greta-thunberg (23 September 2019), from speech delivered at the UN Climate Action Summit.

Money, People, Fairytale

„Avoiding climate breakdown will require cathedral thinking. We must lay the foundation while we may not know exactly how to build the ceiling.“

— Greta Thunberg Swedish climate change activist 2003
“The Eloquence of Greta Thunberg”, Thomas Gaulkin, https://thebulletin.org/2019/04/greta-thunberg-climate-change-eloquence/ (25 April 2019)

Thinking

„I think it is insane that people are gathered here to talk about the climate and they arrive here in private jets.“

— Greta Thunberg Swedish climate change activist 2003
Time to 'get angry', teen climate activist says in Davos https://news.yahoo.com/time-angry-teen-climate-activist-says-davos-015904861.html, World Economic Forum, Davos (January 2019)...

People, Thinking

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Latest quotes

„I want people to unite behind the science... And that is what we have to realize, that that is what we have to do right now.. I’m not the one who’s saying these things. I’m not the one who we should be listening to. And I say that all the time. I say we need to listen to the scientists.“

„For way too long, the politicians and the people in power have gotten away with not doing anything to fight the climate crisis, but we will make sure that they will not get away with it any longer. We are striking because we have done our homework and they have not.“

„We have to understand the emergency of the situation. Our leadership has failed us. Young people must hold older generations accountable for the mess they have created. We need to get angry, and transform that anger into action.“

„We cannot solve a crisis without treating it as a crisis. [... ] And if solutions within the system are so impossible to find, then maybe we should change the system itself?“

„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.“

„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 fairytales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!“

„Avoiding climate breakdown will require cathedral thinking. We must lay the foundation while we may not know exactly how to build the ceiling.“

„I think it is insane that people are gathered here to talk about the climate and they arrive here in private jets.“

Help us translate English quotes

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