In just 12 months, Greta Thunberg has become one of the world’s most vocal climate activists. Here are just a few of her most inspiring quotes.
Since Monday 20th August 2018, the first day that Greta Thunberg went on #ClimateStrike, the sixteen-year-old has become a leading voice in the climate action movement. It’s estimated that more than 1.6 million students across the world have followed her example and walked out of school in order to draw political leaders’ attention to the climate crisis. As Greta continues to set an inspiring example, setting sail to cross the Atlantic in order to attend climate conferences in New York and Santiago, we looked back on some of her most powerful speeches to date.
“We already have all the facts and solutions. All we have to do is to wake up and change.”
TEDxStockholm, December 2018
“Now we probably don’t even have a future any more. Because that future was sold so that a small number of people could make unimaginable amounts of money. It was stolen from us every time you said that the sky was the limit, and that you only live once.”
Houses of Parliament, April 2019
“You say you love your children above all else and yet you are stealing their future in front of their very eyes.”
COP24, December 2018
“I believe that once we start behaving as if we were in an existential crisis, then we can avoid a climate and ecological breakdown. But the opportunity to do so will not last for long. We have to start today.”
Time Magazine, May 2019
“This is not a one-time thing, this is our entire future.”
i-D Magazine, April 2019
“Until you start focusing on what needs to be done rather than what is politically possible there is no hope. We cannot solve a crisis without treating it as a crisis. We need to keep the fossil fuels in the ground and we need to focus on equity. And if solutions within this system are so impossible to find then maybe we should change the system itself.”
COP24, December 2018
“Why should we argue about who or what needs to change first? Why not take the leading role?”
Interview for The Guardian, June 2019
“Since our leaders are behaving like children, we will have to take the responsibility they should have taken long ago.”
COP24, December 2018
“We have not taken to the streets for you to take selfies with us, and tell us that you really admire what we do. We children are doing this to wake the adults up. We children are doing this for you to put your differences aside and start acting as you would in a crisis. We children are doing this because we want our hopes and dreams back.”
Houses of Parliament, April 2019
“Our house is on fire. I am here to say, our house is on fire.”
World Economic Forum in Davos, Junary 2019
“Being different is a gift. It makes me see things from outside the box. I don’t easily fall for lies, I can see through things.”
BBC, April 2019
“Why should I be studying for a future that soon may be no more, when no one is doing anything to save that future?”
COP24, December 2018
“This is above all an emergency and not just any emergency. This is the biggest crisis humanity has ever faced. This is not something you can like on Facebook.”
R20 Austrian World Summit, May 2019
“Humanity is now standing at a crossroads. We must now decide which path we want to take. How do we want the future living conditions for all living species to be like?”
Excintion Rebellion in London, April 2019
“So we have not come here to beg the world leaders to care for our future. They have ignored us in the past and they will ignore us again. We have come here to let them know that change is coming whether they like it or not.”
COP24, December 2018
“It is still not too late to act. It will take a far-reaching vision, it will take courage, it will take fierce, fierce determination to act now, to lay the foundations where we may not know all the details about how to shape the ceiling. In other words it will take cathedral thinking.”
Speech to European Parliament, Strasbourg, April 2019
“We aren’t destroying the biosphere because we are selfish. We are doing it simply because we are unaware.”
Interview for The Guardian, June 2019
“The one thing we need more than hope is action. Once we start to act, hope is everywhere. So instead of looking for hope, look for action. Then, and only then, hope will come.”
TEDxStockholm, December 2018
“We are after all just children, you don’t have to listen to us. But you do have to listen to the united science.”
French Parliament, July 2019
Find out how to become a climate activist and read about the student strikes across the globe.
Follow Greta’s example and make alternative travel arrangements for your next trip, or find out how to offset your carbon emissions when travelling.
Check out Sir David Attenborough and Dr Jane Goodall’s best quotes.
Take a look at Boris Johnson’s stance on the environment.