By Siya Chhabra (‘24)

Image Courtesy of the Financial Times 

On the 21st day of the 21st year of the 21st century, after a switch of the leading federal party, President Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. rededicated the United States of America to the Paris Agreement, a global concordat fabricated for the eradication of global warming and climate change. In order to honor this epoch-making event, I realized that it was necessary to portray the perspective of a certain young individual. An individual who most are familiar with, especially when they hear the following words: school, strike, and climate. In order to revere the altering of the United States’ approach to recent atmospheric conditions, I decided to write about Greta Thunberg. 

Although constantly confronted about her contribution against climate change, Greta Thunberg continues to strive for environmental success. In the case of a predicament, many nations are attempting to stay afloat and not succumb to a continuous concoction of unfavorable acts rising on a daily basis. Imagine if along with an ongoing crisis, an administration must composedly handle the rise of climate change due to their circumstances. In Thunberg’s mind, that would be cataclysmic, and cataclysmic is an understatement, as such events would be condition precedents to a disastrous future for subsequent generations. In her incentivized TED Talk given in Stockholm, Sweden, namely “School strike for climate – save the world by changing the rules,” Greta Thunberg presents the obvious threat of disregarding the unmistakable, detrimental effects of climate change and global warming, and is remarkable, perhaps not simply because she is insistent that individuals do more when it comes to the decision-making in daily activities that affect climate change, but also because she leads by example, and clearly follows the rules she altered. 

As an individual on the spectrum, possessing Asperger Syndrome, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and selective mutism, Thunberg asserts that she sees all-encompassing world dilemmas as “black and white.” She propounds that the answers to differing problems are crystal-clear. Thunberg mentions that “There are no gray areas when it comes to survival.” In addition, she adds uncomplicated words of advisability, “We must change.” Greta pledges modifications and adaptations within mainstream culture and community to be implemented, even by her homeland, Sweden. Thunberg says, “You would think the media and every one of our leaders would be talking about nothing else, but they never even mention it [climate change].” Often utilized within the context of her various speeches, Greta Thunberg alludes to the fact that human beings are “in the midst of the sixth mass extinction.” She fortifies a point to take into consideration, and reveals a perspective never evidently seen before. By bringing to light the various facts about the harm climate change is causing the planet, such as eradicating approximately two-hundred species per day and causing the capability of not being able to halt emission of greenhouse gasses, Greta Thunberg simply embodies the role of a Gen-Z leader, who hopes for the best living circumstances for those around her age in the coming years. She believes that by extending upon, refining, and rewriting the infrastructures and methods already in place for such catastrophic events should be utilized as soon as possible, and that they should interlace the hope of doing good for earthlings everywhere. 

In the conclusion of her determined and action-calling talk, Greta Thunberg poses an extremely impactful hypothetical situation. She questions, whether when she is advanced in her years, if she will have to explain to those younger in her bloodline about why action was not taken in 2018. Three years later, the remedy to this problem is still seemingly concealed, and yet to be revealed. Greta does not need acclaim. She needs action, and that is truly necessary.