If you woke up in San Francisco, you may have noticed the massive mural of Greta Thunberg on Mason Street, near Union Square. You may be one of the persons who do not know who Greta is. Since her face will be looking at passersby in one of the most beautiful cities in the USA, it is time to get acquainted. The news is that San Francisco honors Greta Thunberg. And Cobre is the artist behind the artwork.
Who is Greta Thunberg?
Greta Thunberg is a young environmental activist from Sweden. And she is much more than that. Greta started the wave of protests to regulate global climate. She has already made enormous impact. However, it seems that her messages are reaching young people across the globe more easily than they reach people who actually make decisions. Nevertheless, she has gone where only few activists her age have gone. The latest in her public speeches happened at the UN headquarters in NY.
Greta is a 16-year-old Swedish national, who got interested in climate change at the very young age. The media reported about how her concerns influenced her health and led her to give up on consuming meat, for example. That was just the first step.
“It felt like I was the only one who cared about the climate and the ecological crisis. My parents didn’t care about it, my classmates didn’t care about it, my relatives didn’t care about this. I mean nobody I knew cared about this and I felt like I was the only one.”
Soon afterwards, Greta Thunberg fell into depression and stopped attending school. Protesting against climate change in front of the Swedish parliament was just the beginning of her fight. This was also the way to ease her mind and gain strength. Later on, she organized the school strike with many of her peers across the country joining her.
Today, she has a massive support. More than 1.5 million people joined her cause and protested in the streets recently.
Her Message
Greta Thunberg is one of the activists who is consistent in her fight. She lives what she preaches. Therefore, we can see her sailing across the ocean at the moment, instead of hopping on a plain and travel to distant places.
She talks to politicians and the audience using very severe and direct approach. This young lady is raising questions and is on a mission to make everyone aware of the climate change. She explores the solutions to our planet’s problems and advocates their application as soon as possible.
Currently, she claims that the main issue with climate is to be able to keep the global temperature increase below 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels. Reducing emissions is the first step humanity has to take in order to survive, according to Greta.
Ms. Thunberg had one more important message to convey to the Americans upon her recent visit. She reportedly said:
“Even if the politics needed doesn’t exist today, we still need to use our voices to make sure that the people in power are focused on the right things. Because this is a democracy, and in a democracy, people are the ones who run the country. I know it doesn’t seem that way, but if enough people were to decide they have had enough, then that could change everything. So, don’t underestimate that power.”
What is your stand on climate change and activism of this kind?
