Greta Thunberg Quotes

The Cops are mainly used as an opportunity for leaders and people in power to get attention, using many different kinds of greenwashing. [The Cop conferences] are not really meant to change the whole system... As it is, the Cops are not really working, unless of course we use them as an opportunity to mobilise.

We can still avoid the worst consequences, we can still turn this around. But not if we continue like today. You have the resources and possibilities to change the story overnight.

We are in a global emergency, which affects all of us. But everyone is not suffering its Consequences equally... Africa is being disproportionately hit by the climate crisis, despite contributing to it among the least.

You can shove your up your arse.

I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day. And then I want you to act. (to the annual convention of CEOs and world leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January)

It seems like the people in power have given up...They say it’s too hard — it’s too much of a challenge. But that’s what we are doing here. We have not given up because this is a matter of life and death for countless people.... Either we choose to go on as a civilization or we don’t... That is as black or white as it gets. There are no gray areas when it comes to survival.

You don’t listen to the science because you are only interested in solutions that will enable you to carry on like before. Like now. And those answers don’t exist any more. Because you did not act in time.

People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. 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!

Devastating to see the development taking place in the USA. Centuries of structural and systematic racism and social injustice won’t go away by itself. We need a global structural change. The injustices must come to an end. #BlackLivesMatter

The media must hold the people in power accountable for their actions, or inactions.

In Sweden @FortumSverige is running a huge “green” campaign saying that “The future is already here”, and that they ”have decided to take care of the future”. This takes #greenwashing to a whole new dimension.

We are still speeding in the wrong direction. The five years following the Paris agreement have been the five hottest years ever recorded and, during that time, the world has emitted more than 200bn tonnes of CO2. Distant hypothetical targets are being set, and big speeches are being given. Yet, when it comes to the immediate action we need, we are still in a state of complete denial as we waste our time, creating new loopholes with empty words and creative accounting...
Leaders should be telling the truth: that we are facing an emergency and we are not doing nearly enough. We need to prioritise the action that needs to be taken right here and right now, because it is right now that the carbon budget is being used up. We need to stop focusing on goals and targets for 2030 or 2050... We need to implement annual binding carbon budgets today.
There is hope … we are the hope – we, the people... For me, the hope lies in democracy – it is the people who have the power. If enough people stand up together and repeat the same message, then there are no limits to what we can achieve.

If you want to truly cover the climate crisis, you must also report on the fundamental issues of time, holistic thinking and justice.

They invite cherry-picked young people to meetings like this to pretend that they listen to us. But they clearly don’t listen to us. Our emissions are still rising. The science doesn’t lie. We can no longer let the people in power decide what is politically possible. We can no longer let the people in power decide what hope is. Hope is not passive. Hope is not blah, blah, blah. Hope is telling the truth. Hope is taking action. And hope always comes from the people.