It was the question heard ‘round the world- “How dare you?” Sixteen year old climate activist Greta Thunberg came to speak to US lawmakers and speak at a UN summit on her tour of America. Thunberg definitely made her mark here by chastising lawmakers saying, “listen to scientists.” While she is very knowledgeable in this field, she went on to tell them to not listen to her, but rather listen to the people who have been tracking this problem for years. This message was spelled out in a one minute speech because her advice was blunt. She advised officials to take real action instead of dancing around the issue.
During her UN Summit speech, this same level of blunt chastisement carried through. This time, however, Thunberg became more emotional accusing the older generation of stealing our future. Through tears, Greta states that we have had this knowledge for more than 30 years, and little to nothing has been done. What she said definitely left an impact an international scale because even though the Summit happened, she calls EVERYONE out saying she should be in school across the ocean- she shouldn’t have to skip school in order to talk about science that has been around for ages. Students followed her lead on Friday by skipping school as well to send a message to lawmakers.
Greta Thunberg and the thousands of other students across the globe shouldn’t have to sacrifice their education in order to make a point. The empty promises, as Thunberg says, shouldn’t be the maximum effort. Continuing with that mindset and saying you are doing enough was enough to bring the young activist to tears. She encouraged everyone to bring concrete solutions- politics and money aside- because this should be the biggest issue facing the nations. Failing to act will have detrimental effects on the Earth, so the time is now.