Reflective Essay on Greta Thunberg

“Your silence is almost worst of all.” This is a quote by Greta Thunberg, a 19-year-old climate change activist working towards persuading the governments to take action against the causes of climate change. Her quote is simple but correct. Issues weren’t solved when everyone turned a blind eye and pretended everything was ok. The only times we have solved these issues and life-turning events were the times when people stayed silent and didn’t say a word. If everyone stood still and listened, maybe this predicament would finally come to an end. Greta Thunberg is right about many things, but this may be one of the greatest points she has made yet. But what has she done to stop climate change?

When Greta Thunberg was only fifteen years old, she strived to change the current climate change predicament. Her first course of action was to attempt to spur legislators to address climate change. For nearly 3 weeks prior to the Swedish election in 2018, she missed school to sit outside the country's parliament with a sign reading “Skolstrejk för Klimatet”, meaning “School strike for Climate Change”. She was alone for the first day of her movement but was collectively joined by more and more people advocating for the end of climate change throughout the days. She returned to school but continued to skip school on Fridays to be able to continue her strike.  These days were called “Fridays for Future”. She inspired hundreds of thousands of students around the world to participate in her “Fridays for Future” climate strike. Climate strikes were held in a number of countries around the world such as Belgium, Canada, the United States, The United Kingdom, Finland, Denmark, France, and the Netherlands. She partook in many countries around Europe and the US speaking about climate change and in September of 2019, at the UN climate event in New York City