A force to be reckoned with

At age 16, most NDSU students were in their junior year of high school with their sights set on standardized testing scores and graduation. However, for 16-year-old Greta Thunberg, she is the face of global climate change activism. The Swedish citizen has become a symbol of hope in the face of strong opposition from world leaders to make a progressive and monumental change to sustain the earth’s environment.

Thunberg is known for her ability to captivate audiences and address policymakers directly for their shortcomings. Last year, Thurnberg made news when she took a break from school to protest the Swedish parliament for its inaction in regards to climate activism. Her action’s inspired several other protests.

This past week, Thunberg spoke at the UN Climate Summit expressing her extreme frustration with world leaders: “We are in the beginning of a mass extinction and all you can talk about is money and fairytales of eternal economic growth. How dare you.” In a room of some of the most powerful leaders in the world, it was a brave child whose words resonated with the most truth and spirit. 

What resonates the most about Thunberg’s work for environmental sustainability is how it seems to be affecting adults. While most in the audience at the UN Climate Summit seemed outwardly supportive of Thunberg’s comments, many Americans took their thoughts online in vocal protest to Thunberg’s thoughts. This criticism was prompted by the following sarcastic tweet from Donald Trump: “She seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future. So nice to see!” Thunberg, proving she has much more poise and maturity than the president of the United States made the snide comment her bio on Twitter.

The strength of character with which Thunberg carries herself is atypical for some educated adults. She has held strong as individuals attack her beliefs, integrity and even her Aspberger’s. As one conservative journalist, Michael Knowles stated on Fox News: “If it were about science it would be led by scientists rather than by politicians and a mentally ill Swedish child who is being exploited by her parents and by the international left.” 

Individuals who should carry more composure are quick to attack Thunberg when she is able to remain a stoic and immovable force of change. Thunberg reminds both young and old that environmental activism is not a political issue but human issue. No one person is exempt from concern for the future of this planet, and there is no one person quite like Greta Thunberg as prepared to get people moving.