At the Battery Park in New York, Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old climate change activist, talks to students about the consequences of inaction by world leaders.
Consistency has always been a mantra that has been demonstrated by Greta through her action. One year ago, she had taken the fight to the Swedish parliament after being not satisfied with the steps they were taking to combat climate change.
In August 2018, she sat outside the parliament with a big sign “school strike for climate.” This was a call for students to join her movement in calling for the world leaders to come together and combat climate change. What she could not have imagined is one year later, she would address over two hundred fifty-thousand (250,000) students in New York and over four (4) million students would take part in her protest against climate change.
She tells a sea of faces at Battery Park:
We have not taken to the streets, sacrificing our education for the adults to take selfies with us and tell us that they really admire what we are doing. We are doing this to wake up the leaders because we deserve a safe future,” She said as the crowd started drawing closer to her.
Climate change is bigger than all the problems the world faces
The statement resonated with all the students that had attended this event and cheers filled the air as she was speaking. All the students were now part of something larger than themselves, they were saving the world. They needed to unite and that was reiterated by Greta when she called on unity for the movement.
The loud cheers only motivated her to go on with the speech where she continued questioning why leaders were not listening to them. She pointed out that the fact that these students have gained an education, and all evidence points to climate change, something had to be done.
The problem was not just about the systems put in place in New York. She knew that this was a global problem.
The people in power should do everything to help us stop this crisis. That was the entire message of the whole event. Greta is expected to address the United Nations Youth Climate Summit this month where she is also expected to make her case about the effect climate change is having on our environment.
