Greta Thunberg's Climate Crisis Speech
Uploaded by
Nonjabulo HappinessGreta Thunberg's Climate Crisis Speech
Uploaded by
Nonjabulo HappinessExample speech
Recently, climate change has been at the forefront of your thinking. You decided to join one
of the Fridays for Future Protests and your slogan was ‘There is No Planet B’. As a young
individual, you have reflected and become genuinely worried about the future of the planet.
You feel that 50 years from now, the Earth as we know it today will not exist. Write the text
for a speech in which you convey your frustration at governments and organisations for not
acting promptly to combat climate change and in which you invite your audience to action.
Speech
Greta Thunberg: ‘Our House is on Fire’
2019 World Economic Forum (WEF), in Davos, Switzerland (Fridays for Future, 2019,
January 25)
Our house is on fire. I am here to say, our house is on fire. According to the IPCC, we are
less than 12 years away from not being able to undo our mistakes. [short pause]
In that time, unprecedented changes in all aspects of society need to have taken place,
including a reduction of our CO2 emissions by at least 50%. And please note that those
numbers do not include the aspect of equity, which is absolutely necessary to make the
Paris agreement work on a global scale. Nor does it include tipping points, or feedback
loops, like the extremely powerful methane gas released from the thawing Arctic permafrost.
[short pause]
At places like Davos, people like to tell success stories. But their financial success has come
with an unthinkable price tag. And on climate change, we have to acknowledge we have
failed. All political movements in their present form have done so, and the media has failed
to create broad public awareness. But Homo sapiens have not yet failed. Yes, we are failing,
but there is still time to turn everything around. We can still fix this. We still have everything
in our own hands. But unless we recognise the overall failures of our current systems, we
most probably don’t stand a chance. [short pause]
We are facing a disaster of unspoken sufferings for enormous amounts of people. And now
is not the time for speaking politely or focusing on what we can or cannot say. Now is the
time to speak clearly. Solving the climate crisis is the greatest and most complex challenge
that Homo sapiens have ever faced. [short pause]
The main solution, however, is so simple that even a small child can understand it. We have
to stop our emissions of greenhouse gases. 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 1.5°C of
warming, or we don’t. Either we avoid setting off that irreversible chain reaction beyond
human control, or we don’t. Either we choose to go on as a civilisation, or we don’t. That is
as black or white as it gets.
There are no grey areas when it comes to survival. Now, we all have a choice. We can
create transformational action that will safeguard the future living conditions for future
humankind, or we can continue with our business as usual and fail. That is up to you and
me.
Some say we should not engage in activism, instead we should leave everything to our
politicians and just vote for a change instead. But what do we do when there is no political
will? What do we do when the politics needed are nowhere in sight? [pause]
Here in Davos – just like everywhere else – everyone is talking about money. It seems
money and growth are our only main concerns. And since the climate crisis has never once
been treated as a crisis, people are simply not aware of the full consequences on our
everyday life. [pause]
People are not aware that there is such a thing as a carbon budget, and just how incredibly
small that remaining carbon budget is. That needs to change today. No other current
challenge can match the importance of establishing a wide, public awareness and
understanding of our rapidly disappearing carbon budget, that should and must become our
new global currency and the very heart of our future and present economics. [long pause]
We are at a time in history where everyone with any insight of the climate crisis that
threatens our civilisation – and the entire biosphere – must speak out in clear language, no
matter how uncomfortable and unprofitable that may be. We must change almost everything
in our current societies. The bigger your carbon footprint, 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 you would in a crisis. I want you to
act as if our house is on fire. Because it is!
Speech used with permission from Greta Thunberg Media.
Common questions
Powered by AIThunberg criticizes current political frameworks and societal systems for failing to effectively address the climate crisis. She argues these systems have not prioritized the necessary urgent changes and have inadequately communicated the seriousness of the situation to the public. The existing political movements, media, and economic models are seen as complicit in neglecting climate urgency, which necessitates a shift towards treating it as a crisis requiring immediate attention .
Thunberg's request for panic rather than hope underscores the immediate and severe nature of the climate crisis. By urging people to feel the same dread she experiences, she aims to provoke an urgent and action-oriented response, similar to that during an emergency. This approach challenges complacency and aims to catalyze decisive and immediate actions necessary to mitigate climate change effects .
Thunberg suggests making the concept of the carbon budget central to economic and societal discourse, likening it to a global currency that defines future economics. By replacing traditional metrics with those that account for carbon usage, she argues that this approach would instill a clearer understanding of the critical limits we face and emphasize the urgency required to address them. This involves speaking out in clear and uncompromising terms about the crisis .
Thunberg counters the argument by highlighting the lack of adequate political will and presence of necessary policies to effectively address climate change. She asserts that in the absence of political solutions, activism becomes a crucial mechanism for creating awareness and demanding action. Thunberg suggests that activism addresses the gap left by politicians, particularly when transformative policies are not being prioritized .
Greta Thunberg suggests we need a paradigm shift where climate change is treated as an urgent crisis, rather than a distant or secondary issue. She calls for immediate and transformational action to cut greenhouse gas emissions, stressing the necessity for broad public awareness and acknowledgment of the rapidly depleting carbon budget. She implies that individual and collective moral responsibility must prioritize climate action over economic growth .
Thunberg's statement on preventing 1.5°C of warming underscores the critical threshold identified by scientists beyond which climate change impacts could become catastrophic and irreversible. By framing the situation in black or white terms, she emphasizes the dire consequences of inaction and seeks to eliminate any perception of ambiguity or delay in decision-making. The dichotomy stresses that this moment is a pivotal decision point with definitive outcomes for human survival .
Thunberg highlights that individuals with larger carbon footprints possess a greater ethical obligation to mitigate climate change impacts. She calls attention to the disproportionate responsibility borne by those who contribute more heavily to emissions and stresses that those with larger platforms or societal influence have an increased duty to advocate for climate action. This ethical perspective challenges individuals to assess their personal and professional emissions and influence accordingly .
Failure to address climate change could lead to irreversible changes, unspoken sufferings for enormous populations, and a destabilization of our civilization as we know it. The speeches emphasize that humanity must avoid surpassing the 1.5°C warming threshold to prevent an irreversible chain reaction beyond human control, which poses a survival threat to future generations .
Thunberg critiques society's focus on economic growth as a primary concern, suggesting it diverts attention away from urgently needed climate action. This obsession with financial success often undermines the long-term sustainability of our environment, as climate change has historically not been prioritized or treated with necessary urgency. The prioritization of immediate financial gains contributes to climate inaction and neglects the profound long-term costs of the crisis .
Thunberg argues that equity is a crucial component for the global success of the Paris Agreement. Without addressing disparities, attempts to combat climate change risk exacerbating inequalities, as not all countries have the same means or historical emissions responsibilities. She implies that truly effective climate action must incorporate equity, ensuring fair distribution of efforts and resources globally .