GRETA THUNBERG

LISTENING

Put the statements in order according to what you hear.

a)       She decided to sit down on the ground outside the Swedish parliament and she school-striked for the climate.

b)      She says that people think is like an abstract threat in the future, but it's happening now; we can already see the changes.

c)       After the speeches in the UN and the Economic forum the movement escalated and became viral.

d)      At the beginning she was sceptical like everyone else.

e)      The school strikes aim to tell the world that if adults do not care about children’s future, why should they care?.

f)        She considers that if she didn’t have Asperger’s she wouldn’t be so determined to continue with the school strikes.

g)       She says that when she was eleven she became depressed and started to make changes in her life.

h)      She decided to strike every Friday until Sweden is in line with the Paris agreements

 Transcript

One in four Americans is sceptical of all the effects of climate change and thinks this issue's been exaggerated. Environmental annihilation is coming because we've been evil. Do you know what this is? it's a snowball.

Some people don't believe in the climate crisis, they don't understand that it's real. And I have to say that I understand them in a way because in the beginning when I first found out about this, I doubted that it was true. Because if it was true then we wouldn't be talking about anything else, that would be our first priority. But it's not.

People say it's like an abstract threat in the future, but it's happening now; we can already see the changes. We already have increased the temperature above pre-industrial levels 1.2 degrees. And everything's happening very fast now.  We need to do something and act as if we were in a crisis because otherwise people won't understand that we are in a crisis.

So, Greta thanks to be with us, hi. You said many times ‘I was like an invisible girl before. But now you are very famous, everybody's here with you, and they want you for the Nobel prize. How did you reach this point?

In August last year, I decided that this was enough. I sat myself down on the ground outside the Swedish parliament and I school-striked for the climate. I have said that I will continue to school strike every Friday until Sweden is in line with the Paris agreements. That may take a long time. I will have to be patient and to remind myself of why I'm doing this. The symbolism of the school strike is that since you adults, don't give a damn about my future I won't either. Why should we care for our future when we might not have one. And why should we bother to learn facts when facts don't matter in this society.  It's absurd that young people will have to skip school. And risk their own education because they are scared of not having a future. And I think that is a very strong message.

 You have heard about that great a Greta Thunberg. Greta Thunberg. Greta Thunberg thank you very much for joining us this morning.

At first, I was all alone and then people started joining me. And then it started spreading to different places and to different countries and then different continents and then it became global.  In December the UN had a climate change conference, and there I held some speeches. We have run out of excuses and we are running out of time. I think that was also when more people started to find about the school strikes. And then at the end of January I was invited to the World Economic Forum. Our house is on fire. And also there I held a speech, which also went I think viral and those two I think, both those two were tipping points of this movement. It has just escalated. And it's going so fast like I can't even keep up with it anymore. Now, there's hundreds of thousands of children who are striking from school for their future.

When I was eleven. I became very depressed and I stopped eating and I stopped talking and I stopped going to school. It had a lot to do with the climate and the environment.

I started making changes in my own life. Like stop flying stop eating meat and dairy and stop buying new things in order to be able to look myself in the eye. I need to do something myself.

 I started talking with my parents. After a while they decided to do that as well. Before I started the school strike I was that person who was invisible I never spoke unless I had to.

And also, I have Asperger’s syndrome. I am a bit different from everyone else. When you have Asperger’s you also tend to have a capacity of being very focused and interested in some subjects and that allowed me to  focus on one thing for a very long time.

 I think that if I wouldn't have had Asperger’s, I don't think I would have started school strike. and I don't think I would have been interested in the climate at all. Because if I would have been like everyone else I’d just continued like before not thinking twice about this, but now I can't do that, my conscience doesn't allow me to do that.