No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference (Green Ideas)

by Greta Thunberg

We are about to sacrifice our civilization for the opportunity of a very small number of people to continue to make enormous amounts of money. We are about to sacrifice the biosphere so that rich people in countries like mine can live in luxury. But it is the sufferings of the many which pay for the luxuries of the few.

Some say that we should not engage in activism. Instead we should leave everything to our politicians and just vote for a change instead. But what do we do when there is no political will? What do we do when the politics needed are nowhere in sight?

There are some people who say that I oversimplify things. For example when I say that ‘The climate crisis is a black and white issue’, ‘We need to stop the emissions of greenhouse gases’, and ‘I want you to panic.’ But that I only say because it’s true. Yes, the climate crisis is the most complex issue that we have ever faced and it’s going to take everything from our part to ‘stop it’. But the solution is black and white: we need to stop the emissions of greenhouse gases.

We children shouldn’t have to do this. But since almost no one is doing anything, and our very future is at risk, we feel like we have to continue.

We live in a strange world, where we think we can buy or build our way out of a crisis that has been created by buying and building things.

Humanity is now standing at a crossroads. We must now decide which path we want to take. What do we want the future living conditions for all species to be like?

We should no longer measure our wealth and success in the graph that shows economic growth, but in the curve that shows the emissions of greenhouse gases. We should no longer only ask: ‘Have we got enough money to go through with this?’ but also: ‘Have we got enough of the carbon budget to spare to go through with this?’ That should and must become the centre of our new currency.