Greta Thunberg • An 18-year-old from Stockholm, Sweden. • Descendant of Svante Arrhenius, a scientist who came up with a model of the greenhouse effect. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1903. • She learnt about climate change when she was eight. Who is she? • She has Asperger’s Syndrome, a developmental disorder, which she has described as a gift. Timeline • She started campaigning in 2018 when she was 15. • She won an essay competition – she wrote about climate change in that essay. • Three months later, she started protesting in front of the Swedish Parliament building, vowing to continue until the Swedish government met the carbon emissions targets agreed upon by world leaders in the Paris Summit in 2015. • She regularly started campaigning and went on strike every day. She urged students from around the world to join her cause. Timeline • Her protests went viral on social media as support for her cause grew. • Hashtag: #FridaysForFuture • More than 20,000 students from around the world joined her by December 2018. • She took the entire school year off in 2019 and spoke at the UN Climate Conference in New York the same year. • Fun fact: Greta refuses to travel by air because of its impact on the environment so she got to NY on a racing yacht which took two weeks. What does she want? • Calls for governments around the world to do more to reduce the carbon footprint. • Has urged banks, governments and other investors to stop investing in fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas. • She urges them to invest in existing sustainable technologies, research and in restoring nature. Response • World leaders such as Donald Trump mocked her and told her she needed anger management classes. • Vladmir Putin said she was a “kind but poorly informed teenager.” • She was also told by US Treasury Secretary to go away and study economics before lecturing investors. • Her message has been well received by students, scientists, climate activists, the Pope and broadcaster and naturalist Sir David Attenborough. Quick facts • Name: Greta Thunberg • Age: 18 • Nationality: Swedish • Claim to fame: Climate activist • Hashtag: #FridaysForFuture • IG handle: https://www.instagram.com/gretathunberg/ • Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/gretathunbergsweden/ • Awards: Time Magazine Person of the Year 2019 Speech at the UN Climate Action Summit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAJsdgTPJpU&feature=y outu.be Questions • What is the topic of the speech? • What is the purpose of the speech? • Who is the intended audience? • What is the content of the speech? • Notable aspects of this speech.
