Who Is Greta Thunberg? How Did She Start Her Profession?

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Who Is Greta Thunberg: Greta Tintin Eleonora Ernman Thunberg was born in Stockholm, Sweden, on January 3, 2003. Her parents are the opera singer Malena Ernman and the actor Svante Thunberg. Olof Thunberg, an actor and director was her father’s grandfather. Beata is her younger sister.

Thunberg says she first heard about climate change in 2011, when she was eight years old, and she couldn’t understand why so little was being done about it. The situation made her sad, so at age 11, she stopped talking much and ate less.

In two months, she lost ten kilograms (22 lb). She was eventually diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), and selective mutism. In one of her first speeches calling for action on climate change, Thunberg said that because she has selective mutism, she “only speaks when necessary.”

Thunberg had been depressed for almost four years before she started her campaign for school walkouts. When she began to protest, her parents disagreed with what she was doing. Her father told her: “I don’t like it when you don’t go to school.”

“We like that she wants to stand up for something. She can stay home and be sad or protest and be happy.” In May 2015, her mother told everyone in Sweden that she had Asperger’s syndrome. She did this to help other families going through the same thing.

Thunberg has Asperger’s, which she says has “limited” her in the past, but she doesn’t think of it as a disease. Instead, she calls it her “superpower.” She was later called the most well-known person who worked to stop climate change and the most prominent person who worked to stop autism.

Thunberg said in 2021 that many people in the Fridays for the Future movement had autism and were very accepting of others. She thinks that many people with autism become climate activists because they can’t look away and have to say what they see:

“I know many people who have been depressed, but then they joined the climate movement or Fridays for Future and found a purpose in life, friends, and a community where they are welcome.” She thinks that making friends and being happy are the best things from her activism.

Who Is Greta Thunberg?

Who Is Greta Thunberg
Who Is Greta Thunberg

Greta Tintin Eleonora Ernman Thunberg is a Swedish environmental activist born on January 3, 2003. She is known for calling on world leaders to take action right away to stop climate change. Thunberg first got involved in activism when she persuaded her parents to make lifestyle changes to lower their carbon footprint.

In August 2018, when she was 15 years old, she started spending her Fridays holding a sign that said “Skolstrejk for climate” outside the Swedish Parliament to call for more decisive action on climate change (School strike for climate).

Thunberg first got noticed because she was young and because of how straightforward and blunt she spoke in public and to political leaders and groups. She criticizes world leaders for not doing what she thinks is enough to stop the climate crisis.

Soon, other students in their towns began protesting similarly. Together, they set up a group called Fridays for Future, a school strike movement about climate change. After Thunberg spoke about climate change at the 2018 United Nations Climate Change Conference, students worldwide went on strike every week.

In 2019, more than a million students participated in coordinated protests in more than one city. Thunberg took a yacht to North America so she wouldn’t have to fly, which produced a lot of carbon dioxide. There, she went to the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit.

Her speech there, in which she said, “How dare you?” was picked up by the press and used in songs. She speaks English well, and most of what she says in public is in English. Her sudden rise to fame worldwide made her a leader among activists and a target for critics, especially because she was so young.

The “Greta effect” is what The Guardian and other newspapers have called her effect on the world stage. She got a lot of honors and awards, like an honorary Fellowship from the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, a spot on Time’s list of the 100 most influential people, being the youngest Time Person of the Year, a place on Forbes’ list of the 100 most powerful women in the world in 2019, and nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022.

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How Did Greta Thunberg Start Her Profession?

Thunberg had been depressed for a few years before she started the school climate strikes, which grew into Fridays for Future, an international movement to stop climate change. She said she wouldn’t go to school until the Swedish general election in 2018 and demanded that her government cut carbon emissions to meet the Paris Agreement.

Thunberg spread the word about her cause worldwide by posting photos of her strike on Twitter and Instagram. Later in 2018, she started participating in big European protests and gave several well-known speeches in public.

After the general election in Sweden, Thunberg continued to strike every Friday. She also inspired students all over the world to keep going on strike.

Major Protests & Speeches

Thunberg spoke at the plenary session of the 2018 United Nations Climate Change Conference. This was the most critical stage she had ever been on. Her speech, in which she strongly criticized the government for not doing anything about climate change, went viral.

Thunberg spent the next year getting even more involved in activism. She went to more student protests and spoke at European forums and parliaments. She said at the World Economic Forum and in the British and French parliaments, among other places.

Thunberg went to the United Nations Climate Action Summit at the end of the year. She also went to a UNICEF press conference with 15 other kids, where they made an official complaint against five countries for not meeting their goals to cut carbon emissions.

Thunberg participated in protests and gave speeches about climate change all over Canada and the United States. She also delivered keynote speeches. She also went to COP25, spoke at the World Economic Forum, and spoke to the Environment Committee of the European Parliament.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Thunberg kept up her activism. She used social media to call out different environmental injustices and the failure of world leaders to do anything about them. She spoke at the COP26 meeting in Glasgow in 2021.

Transatlantic Voyage

Thunberg sailed from Plymouth, United Kingdom, to New York City, United States, during her sabbatical year in 2019. She was on the racing yacht Malizia II, which had solar panels and underwater turbines to make the trip free of carbon emissions. Altogether, the trip took 15 days.

Thunberg’s outspoken activism has changed how many countries think about climate change. In the 2019 election for the European Parliament, the Green parties did better than ever before. Many of the gains came from northern Europe, where young people participated in protests that Thunberg inspired.

Also, a YouGov poll in the UK showed that people’s concern about environmental issues has gone through the roof since Thunberg became famous. The number of children’s books about climate change has also significantly increased.

Thunberg has also affected air travel. She has told people to take the train instead of flying to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. So, domestic air travel in Sweden dropped by 4% in 2019, while rail travel went up.

A study done in 2021 found that people who knew about Thunberg and what she thought were more likely to work together to fight climate change and support environmental activism.

Media Appearances

Thunberg has been in a lot of different media because she is well-known and influential around the world. She has been shown in many large murals, and the children’s book “Greta and the Giants” was based on her. Some of her speeches have been used in songs.

Megan Washington, Robert Davidson, and DJ Fatboy Slim are just some artists who have done this. Thunberg was a fortune teller in the music video for Pearl Jam’s “Retrograde,” which came out in 2020.

The same year, Nathan Grossman made the Hulu documentary “I Am Greta” about her. Greta Thunberg: A Year to Change the World” was a three-part BBC documentary about Thunberg that came out in 2021.

Accolades

Thunberg has won a lot of awards and honors for her activism. She has won the Rachel Carson Prize, the Laudato Si’ Prize, the Ambassador of Conscience Award, the Geddes Environment Medal, and the International Children’s Peace Prize, among other awards.

She was also named the Swedish Woman of the Year and the Time Person of the Year. Thunberg was also nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize three years in a row. She was the first person to win the Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity in 2020.

How Rich Is Greta Thunberg?

Greta Thunberg is a Swedish activist for the environment with a net worth of $100,000. Greta Thunberg first spoke out against climate change when she was 15 years old. She is a leader in the movement and has spoken at the UN Climate Change Conference and the Climate Action Summit.

She has also helped start school climate strikes all over the world. Thunberg’s work has earned her many awards, such as an Honorary Fellowship from the Royal Scottish Geographical Society.

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