A school student's bold move to protest alone caught the attention of the world. A few months later amidst the suited masses of adults and government officials, the teenage girl earnestly looks on, her face reflecting her determination and impatience to set things right. She is Greta Thunberg, 16 year-old Swedish climate activist with prodigious courage and wit to understand the reality and make things happen.
A warrior of the future, she finally made the world notice that they were heading to a very bad future. She managed to lure a whole legion of enthusiastic students into organising the biggest rallies in the world pleading action on the part of adults. Always with the right tone, she has managed to portray the ideal, compassionate approach to our surroundings, convincing people to think and feel for the environment with much vigour and sensitivity as her.
Her actions and words have brightened a history someone would feel sorry for. Her concern for the environment started at the age of 8 when she could never understand why people were not acting on it. Three years later the burden of this growing realisation and concern made her depressed, lethargic, and she was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, an eating disorder, OCD and selective mutism.
Though she acknowledges that her health problems may have limited her before, she believes that those same problems, or rather "superpowers", led her into being one of the world's most respected and influential people. Having Asperger syndrome meant she would be intensely immersed in a select few activities- environment is one of them. Added to that, the fact that her condition restricted her to talk only when she feels it necessary truly emphasises the depth of the climate situation.
Her knack in inspiring others through shocking facts and predictions has also been given a name - the "Greta Thunberg Effect". However, she cites herself as merely a messenger, reiterating the facts that climate scientists have tried in vain for years to stimulate people's determination towards climate action.
It all started with a climate change essay competition. She won the competition and impressed by her work, an environmental group approached her and conducted meetings with her where she expressed how she had been impressed by a school strike following a shooting. The leader of the group then suggested that school children could also strike for climate change. And that was the spark that ignited the fiery strikes that spread across the world weakening the excuses behind which governments resided. The highlight was in August 2018, when she was 15, Thunberg took time off school to demonstrate outside the Swedish parliament, holding up a sign calling for stronger climate action. Next one the other day when she addressed the UN summit on climate change.
However, history has well emphasised the laboriousness of protests and the interminable wait getting results. Small additions to these strikes could make the desired results appear faster. This will include campaigns and workshops.
Simple changes in lifestyle, inculcation of lilliputian actions, such as planting trees and growing our own crops, into our culture and actively indulging in inspiring people around you to do the same becomes significant when all of those modest actions are done by everyone.
If we empower ourselves and others with the ability to bring about those larger changes we can refurbish the dull future that we inherited; we can change politicians too. The road roller is still far enough for you to move outside its path. It's a choice.
(Nandana is a Class XI student of Global Public School, Thiruvaniyoor, Kochi)
