GRETA THUNBERG'S UNITED NATIONS COP 24 SPEECH CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE

GRETA THUNBERG'S UN SPEECH

SHE MADE HER MARK AT THE COP 24 CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE IN 2018

Here is the full text of her speech at COP24 in Poland:

"My name is Greta Thunberg. I am 15 years old. I am from Sweden. I speak on behalf of Climate Justice Now.

Many people say that Sweden is just a small country and it doesn't matter what we do.

But I've learned you are never too small to make a difference.

And if a few children can get headlines all over the world just by not going to school, then imagine what we could all do together if we really wanted to. But to do that, we have to speak clearly, no matter how uncomfortable that may be.

You only speak of green eternal economic growth because you are too scared of being unpopular. You only talk about moving forward with the same bad ideas that got us into this mess, even when the only sensible thing to do is pull the emergency brake.

You are not mature enough to tell it like is. Even that burden you leave to us children. But I don't care about being popular. I care about climate justice and the living planet.

Our civilization is being sacrificed for the opportunity of a very small number of people to continue making enormous amounts of money.

Our biosphere is being sacrificed so that rich people in countries like mine can live in luxury. It is the sufferings of the many which pay for the luxuries of the few.

The year 2078, I will celebrate my 75th birthday. If I have children maybe they will spend that day with me. Maybe they will ask me about you. Maybe they will ask why you didn't do anything while there still was time to act.

You say you love your children above all else, and yet you are stealing their future in front of their very eyes.
Until you start focusing on what needs to be done rather than what is politically possible, there is no hope. We cannot solve a crisis without treating it as a crisis.

We need to keep the fossil fuels in the ground, and we need to focus on equity. And if solutions within the system are so impossible to find, maybe we should change the system itself.

We have not come here to beg world leaders to care. You have ignored us in the past and you will ignore us again.

We have run out of excuses and we are running out of time.

We have come here to let you know that change is coming, whether you like it or not. The real power belongs to the people. Thank you."

A BIT ABOUT GRETA

Greta Thunberg is a Swedish climate activist, a schoolgirl aged just 15 when she became a household name. She is known for striking outside the Swedish parliament building to raise climate change activism, speaking at TEDxStockholm, and addressing the COP24 UN climate conference.

Thunberg was born on 3 January 2003. Her mother is Malena Ernman, a Swedish opera singer. Thunberg's father is Svante Thunberg, who is an actor named after Svante Arrhenius. Arrhenius is an ancestor of her father, and won a Nobel Prize in Chemistry for calculating the effects of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Her grandfather is Olof Thunberg, an actor and a director.

Thunberg has been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome. She insisted that her family become vegan and give up flying.

Thunberg participated in the Rise for Climate demonstration outside the European Parliament in Brussels and the Declaration of Rebellion organized by Extinction Rebellion in London.

On 24 November 2018, she spoke at TEDxStockholm. She speaks about autism as a way to explain why she cannot understand the inaction of governments and of citizens on climatic threat. Towards the conclusion of her talk, Thunberg said, "We've had thirty years of pep-talking and selling positive ideas. And I'm sorry, but it doesn't work. Because if it would have, the emissions would have gone down by now—they haven't."

On 4 December 2018, Thunberg addressed the COP24 United Nations climate change summit. On 12 December 2018, Thunberg again addressed the COP24 plenary assembly, stating:

“You only speak of a green eternal economic growth because you are too scared of being unpopular. You only talk about moving forward with the same bad ideas that got us into this mess, even when the only sensible thing to do is pull the emergency brake. You are not mature enough to tell it like it is. Even that burden you leave to us children.”

PRIZES AND AWARDS

Thunberg was one of the winners of Svenska Dagbladet's debate article writing competition on the climate for young people in May 2018. In the World Nature Fund's prize the young environmental hero of the year 2018, Thunberg is one of the three nominees. Thunberg was nominated for the electricity company Telge Energi's prize for children and young people who promote sustainable development, Children's Climate Prize, but declined because the finalists would have to fly to Stockholm. In November 2018, she was awarded the Fryshuset scholarship of the Young Role Model of the Year. In December 2018, Time magazine named Thunberg one of the world's 25 most influential teenagers.

COP 25 CHILE 2019