No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference

by Greta Thunberg

To all of you who choose to look the other way every day because you seem more frightened of the changes that can prevent catastrophic climate change than the catastrophic climate change itself. Your silence is almost worst of all.

have Asperger’s syndrome, and to me, almost everything is black or white. I think in many ways that we autistic are the normal ones and the rest of the people are pretty strange. They keep saying that climate change is an existential threat and the most important issue of all. And yet they just carry on like before. If the emissions have to stop, then we must stop the emissions. To me that is black or white.

Nor does hardly anyone ever mention that we are in the midst of the sixth mass extinction, with about 200 species going extinct every single day.

rich countries need to get down to zero emissions, within six to twelve years, so that people in poorer countries can heighten their standard of living by building some of the infrastructure that we have already built. Such as roads, hospitals, electricity, schools and clean drinking water. Because how can we expect countries like India or Nigeria to care about the climate crisis if we, who already have everything, don’t care even a second about it or our actual commitments to the Paris Agreement?

Are we knowingly causing a mass extinction? Are we evil? No, of course not. People keep doing what they do because the vast majority doesn’t have a clue about the consequences of our everyday life.

Even most green politicians and climate scientists go on flying around the world, eating meat and dairy.

Some people say that I should study to become a climate scientist so that I can ‘solve the climate crisis’. But the climate crisis has already been solved. We already have all the facts and solutions. All we have to do is to wake up and change.

And what is the point of learning facts within the school system when the most important facts given by the finest science of that same school system clearly mean nothing to our politicians and our society?

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.

You say that you love your children above everything else. And yet you are stealing their future. Until you start focusing on what needs to be done rather than what is politically possible, there’s no hope.

Some people say that the climate crisis is something that we all have created. But that is just another convenient lie. Because if everyone is guilty then no one is to blame. And someone is to blame. Some people – some companies and some decision-makers in particular – have known exactly what priceless values they are sacrificing to continue making unimaginable amounts of money.

I ask you to stand on the right side of history.

At places like Davos, people like to tell success stories. But their financial success has come with an unthinkable price-tag.

People are not aware that there is such a thing as a carbon budget and just how incredibly small that remaining carbon budget is.

The bigger your carbon footprint – the bigger your moral duty. The bigger your platform – the bigger your responsibility.

I write my own speeches. But since I know that what I say is going to reach many, many people, I often ask for input. I also have a few scientists that I frequently ask for help on how to express certain complicated matters. I want everything to be absolutely correct so that I don’t spread incorrect facts, or things that can be misunderstood.

Asperger is not a disease, it’s a gift.

if I would have been ‘normal’ and social I would have organized myself in an organization, or started an organization by myself.

People always tell us that they are so hopeful. They are hopeful that the young people are going to save the world, but we are not. There is simply not enough time to wait for us to grow up and become the ones in charge.

We want you to follow the Paris Agreement and the IPCC reports. We don’t have any other manifestos or demands

The political system that you have created is all about competition. You cheat when you can, because all that matters is to win, to get power. That must come to an end, we must stop competing with each other, we need to cooperate and work together and to share the resources of the planet in a fair way.

According to the IPCC report we are about eleven years away from being in a position where we set off an irreversible chain reaction beyond human control. To avoid that unprecedented change in all aspects of society, [actions] need to have taken place within this coming decade, including a reduction of our CO2 emissions by at least 50 per cent by the year 2030. And please note that those numbers do not include the aspect of equity, which is absolutely necessary to make the Paris Agreement work on a global scale,

negative emission techniques on a huge planetary scale that is yet to be invented,

if you think that we should be in school instead, then we suggest that you take our place in the streets striking from your work. Or better yet, join us so it can speed up the process.

You can’t just sit around waiting for hope to come – you’re acting like spoiled, irresponsible children. You don’t seem to understand that hope is something you have to earn.

We have started to clean up your mess and we will not stop until we are done.

unite behind the science. Make the best available science the heart of politics and democracy.

Nearly every single major national scientific body around the world unreservedly supports the work and findings of the IPCC.

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.

all those solutions needed are not known to anyone and therefore we must unite behind the science and find them together along the way.

We have not taken to the streets for you to take selfies with us, and tell us that you really admire what we do.

The vast majority of us know much less than we think.

We have never been shown the graphs which show how much the CO2 emissions must be reduced for us to stay below the 1.5°C limit.

You cannot rely on people reading between the lines or searching for the information themselves.

If you say that we can ‘solve’ this crisis just by maybe increasing or lowering some taxes, phasing out coal in ten or fifteen years, putting up solar panels on new buildings or manufacturing more electric cars, then people will think we can ‘solve’ this crisis with a few political reforms, without anyone making a real effort.

We must acknowledge that we do not have the situation under control and that we don’t have all the solutions yet.

For too long the people in power have gotten away with basically not doing anything to stop climate and ecological breakdown. They have gotten away with stealing our future and selling it for profit.

these are the numbers that count. This is the current best available science. You can’t simply make up your own facts, just because you don’t like what you hear.

richer countries need to get down to zero emissions faster – so that people in poorer parts of the world can heighten their standard of living by building some of the infrastructure that we have already built.

Four hundred and twenty gigatonnes of CO2 left to emit on 1 January 2018 to have a 67 per cent chance of staying below a 1.5°C global temperature rise, according to the IPCC.

we are after all just children. You don’t have to listen to us. But you have to listen to the united science. The scientists. And that is all we ask – unite behind the science.

That governments, political parties and corporations grasp the urgency of the climate and ecological crisis and come together despite their differences – as you would in an emergency – and take the measures required to safeguard the conditions for a dignified life for everybody on earth.

Exporting our emissions overseas is not reducing our emissions.

These numbers are not my opinions. They aren’t anyone’s opinions or political views. This is the current best available science.

Your generation is 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.