Greta Thunberg is a young Swedish student internationally known for being an activist demanding action from the international community to reverse the effects of climate changes ongoing due to global warming. She became aware of the cause in 2011 and since her adolescence has been engaged in protests.
She had great repercussions when she started skipping classes to protest in front of the Swedish Parliament, demanding measures to protect the environment from local politicians. Recently, Greta has participated in numerous international events that debate the importance of the climate issue, speaking several times.
Read too: Malala Yousafzai — the Pakistani girl known for defending women's right to study
Topics of this article
- 1 - Summary about Greta Thunberg
- 2 - Origin of Greta Thunberg
-
3 - Greta Thunberg's Activism
- → Greta Thunberg protests in the Swedish Parliament
- 4 - International performance of Greta Thunberg
Summary about Greta Thunberg
Greta Thunberg is a young Swedish girl who was born in 2003.
She was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, a condition that is linked to the autism spectrum.
She learned about climate change caused by global warming in 2011.
She engaged in protests demanding that measures be taken to prevent climate change during her teenage years.
She was invited to participate in several internationally renowned events, even speaking at the UN.
Do not stop now... There's more after the ad ;)
Origin of Greta Thunberg
Greta Tintin Eleonora Ernman Thunberg was born in Stockholm, capital of Sweden, on January 3, 2003. She is the daughter of Malena Ernman, known for having a successful career as an opera singer, and Svante Thunberg, an actor. Greta has a younger sister named Beata.
Greta went diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, a condition that is related to the autism spectrum. This condition is marked by affecting the individual's ability to socialize and communicate, but does not hinder intellectual development. Asperger's syndrome causes hyperfocus, which allows the individual to develop very high attention on a specific subject.
Greta Thunberg's activism
Greta Thunberg is internationally known for her activism against global warming, being energetic in advocating radical measures to combat ongoing climate change. She first came into contact with this subject in 2011, when she was just eight years old.
The subject had a big impact on Greta Thunberg, and since then she has tried to adapt her life to avoid taking actions that contribute to climate change. The great attention she gave to the problem helped her to develop depression, motivated by the anguish she felt at seeing so few actions being taken to reverse changes to the climate.
It was during the process of treating depression that she and her family discovered Asperger's syndrome. In her adolescence, she tried to adapt her practices to try to make them more sustainable. Greta became vegan, started recycling objects and decided to stop getting around by plane because this means of transport emits a lot of carbon into the atmosphere.
Greta extended her actions against climate change and tried to convince her parents that they too should adopt some practices to reduce the impact of climate change. After some time, she she managed to convince her family to make changes in their habits, and soon her parents became vegans.
Greta's mother still had to abandon her career as an international opera singer, as she stopped getting around by plane. Currently, her parents fight for the environmental cause, which defends that actions against climate change are taken to avoid greater tragedies in the future.
→ Greta Thunberg protests in the Swedish Parliament
In 2018, Greta Thunberg took a new step in her activism for the environment and she started skipping her classes on Fridays to go à swedish parliament door demand from parliamentarians more effective measures against climate change. She named her protests as Skolstrejk for klimatet, which can be translated as “School strike for the climate”.
Greta's protests began in August 2018 and would last until the beginning of September of the same year, when a general election would take place in Sweden. She tried to mobilize other schoolmates to join her, but as no one was interested, Greta decided to hold the protests herself.
Read too: Rosa Parks — the black woman who fought racial segregation in the United States
International performance by Greta Thunberg
The protests in front of the Swedish Parliament gave Greta Thunberg projection, mainly because of the repercussions of her actions on social media. Greta's protests continued to be held every Friday in front of the Swedish Parliament, and thousands of students copiedyourthe actions in different parts of the planet.
Greta has become an international personality and started to be invited to participate in several environmental events in several countries. One of the most important events she participated in was the United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP24, held in December 2018. At that event, she addressed the plenary of the assembly.
She also participated in other events and was in important places, such as:
World Economic Forum;
European Economic and Social Committee;
European Parliament;
British Parliament;
UN Climate Summit;
COP25.
Thunberg also spoke at many other events, participated in protests by environmental movements, was indicated to Award Nobel Peace Prize on two occasions and was elected one of the 100 most influential personalities in the world in 2019 by the magazine Team. The protests led by Greta upset several politicians around the world, who criticized her, such as Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro.
Greta continues to promote its protests in front of the PSwedish Parliament on Fridays, which are currently called Fridays for Future, an expression that can be translated as “Fridays for the Future”. These protests are part of an international movement that mobilizes young people for the environmental cause and the fight against climate change.
image credit
[1] Liv Oeian / shutterstock
[2] Per Grunditz / shutterstock
By Daniel Neves Silva
History teacher
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
SILVA, Daniel Neves. "Greta Thunberg"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/biografia/greta-thunberg.htm. Accessed on June 11, 2022.
