By Rabia Khan

If your social media feeds were ever roaring with a powerful young environmentalist, then you surely know who Greta Thunberg is. Swedish-based Greta is an activist who passionately campaigns to help the earth’s environment. She pushes world leaders to do the same because they hold more clout and power.

It all began in her own home when she persuaded her parents to adopt healthier lifestyles to reduce their carbon footprint. With her little family, Greta is known to have roamed the world and as her fame grew, booking trips across the continent is her favourite thing on her to-do list.

At the tender age of fifteen, when she was just beginning her life as a teenager, she started campaigning outside the Swedish Parliament calling for action on climate change. She was noticeably aggressive and blunt in her speech while holding up a placard that read ‘School Strike for Climate’.

Soon other children her age joined in the effort to bring attention to global warming. Students joined her protests worldwide. She became more active when she attended the 2019 UN climate action summit where she sailed a yacht to North America to avoid carbon-intensive flying.

Greta has made some of the most popular speeches and powerful statements regarding the climate crisis. She declared this statement at the United Nations Climate Action Summit which occurred in 2019:

“You are failing us. But the young people are starting to understand your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us, I say: We will never forgive you. We will not let you get away with this. Right here, right now is where we draw the line. The world is waking up. And change is coming, whether you like it or not.”

19-year-old Greta has become the world’s influencer for her principles and ethics and the press often describes her influence as the “Greta Effect”. Hopefully, world leaders will sit up and notice her actions and take much-needed action to protect the planet against the climate crisis.

She has given speeches at the world economic forum in Davos, Switzerland, and at the European Parliament, as well as at the legislatures of Italy, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Not many are aware that Thunberg has Asperger’s Syndrome. She acknowledges it by saying that it actually helps her in her work worldwide because it let her be different. She calls being different a superpower.

Greta Thunberg was nominated ‘Person of the Year’ in 2019 by Time magazine.  She symbolizes the hope and aspirations of the youth who look forward to a beautiful future and a healthy environment on a livable planet.

She is the daughter of a leading Swedish opera singer. Her father is a renowned actor who is distantly related to Nobel prize-winning chemist Svante Arrhenius, who studied how carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increases the temperature on the earth’s surface.

Thunberg is mature way beyond her years, which has helped her get her priorities in order. Greta’s work has been inspiring young minds to join a revolutionary movement against climate disaster. The kids are on the streets voicing their opinions loud and clear, so what’s stopping you?