Sweden’s sixteen-year-old Greta Thunberg and her drive to speak out about climate change should be an inspiration to all of us. Her passion is enviable and her dedication is deserving of our respect. In Aug. 2018, Thunberg’s climate campaign began with her school strike. She protested outside of the Swedish parliament for action against climate change and was soon joined by other students and teachers. “Fridays for Future” became a weekly event in which she and others would walk out of school to protest. She soon began receiving responses from numerous other countries and spoke at the United Nations climate talks in Poland in Nov. 2018. In 2019 she was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize and was named by Time as one of the world’s most influential people. When she was set to arrive in the United States to participate in the UN’s climate summit, she traveled by a ‘zero-carbon emissions vessel,’ truly practicing what she preaches.
Thunberg represents our generations’ views on climate change; she is taking action to aid the world that we and our children will grow up in. In September, she expressed how the UN leaders had “stolen my dreams and my childhood with [their]empty words.”
It is appalling to read about the hate that a sixteen year old with such a passion for helping the earth is receiving. AJA Louden’s mural of Greta in Edmonton, Canada was vandalized hours after completion. The people who vandalized the mural claimed that Thunberg is bringing problems to countries and that they did not ask for her aid. They remarked that she should go back to her own country and return when she has solutions.
Protesting politicians and speaking out against the dangers of our earth’s current status is the first step toward a solution. Thunberg is doing more than any of us or our parent’s generation have even attempted. Her message to Trump was that he should listen to the science behind climate control. Unsurprisingly, our arrogant president does not believe in climate change.
It becomes quite clear that there is no strong argument against climate change when we look at the hate Thunberg is receiving. She has been attacked on social media for telling lies and conspiracy theories, and she has been misrepresented by fake photographs. Her haters avoid the science – the one platform she has asked us and the president to consider.
Thunberg has millions of supporters, including fellow students who are making strides to represent their generation, who will have to live with the destruction that humans have caused. Like in many controversies, the opposing side is using words of hate, fake propaganda and circular arguments to lash back against the truth. It is disappointing to see an educated and passionate sixteen year old receiving death threats and lies on social media, mostly by adults. They appear to no longer care about the earth and they will not be around to see the totality of its destruction.
