Greta Thunberg, 16-year-old from Sweden nominated for Nobel Peace Prize for the fight against climate change. Three Norwegian lawmakers have nominated the Swedish teen activist.
Freddy Andre Oevstegaard and two other members of the Socialist Left Party who nominated her told AFP news agency that, “We have proposed Greta Thunberg because if we do nothing to halt climate change, it will be the cause of wars, conflict and refugees.” He added, “Greta Thunberg has launched a mass movement which I see as a major contribution to peace.”
She encourages students to skip school to join protests demanding faster action on climate change, a movement that has spread beyond Sweden and worldwide. From last year, she skips classes every Friday to protest against climate change and the lack of ignorance towards it. She began campaigning online against the Swedish Parliament with hashtag #FridaysforFuture.
On Friday, March 15 strikes were conducted in 112 countries involving hundreds of thousands of young students following Thunberg’s lead.
Greta was invited to speak at the World Economic Forum in Davos where she focuses her speech entirely on climate change. Her speech is outstanding, said, “Our house is on fire, I am here to say our house is on fire.”
She added, “We have to stop the emissions of greenhouse gases. And either we do that or we don’t. You say nothing in life is black or white but that is a lie, a very dangerous lie. Either we prevent a 1.5 degree of warming or we don’t. Either we avoid setting off that irreversible chain reaction beyond the human control, or we don’t. Either we choose to go on as a civilization or we don’t.”
“The bigger your carbon footprint is, the bigger your moral duty. The bigger your platform the bigger your responsibility.”
“Adults keep saying we owe it to the young people to give them hope. But I don’t want your hope, I don’t want you to be hopeful. I want you to panic, I want you to feel the fear I feel every day. And then I want you to act, I want you to act as if you would in a crisis. I want you to act as if the house was on fire because it is.” Speech Source: www.fridaysforfuture.org