So many people around the world, especially young people, are passionate about a cause yet don't act on it. More often than not this is because the average person feels like they can't make a change in the world because they're "just one person". While it is understandable why one may feel that way, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's true. Although you may not be able to snap your fingers and make policy changes or stop climate change all together, you do have a voice.
So often I comment around my friends on everything from climate change to plastic waste. Sometimes they laugh, sometimes they listen. I'm used to being the first and only to casually bring up topics like the climate crisis at dinner with friends, but to my surprise a friend of mine actually chose to before I did the other day. She told me that my constant climate crisis comments inspired her to purchase a reusable straw. While this may seem like a small action, for my friend, it was huge. After all this time she was the last person I would have expected to consciously make an eco-friendly purchase, let alone go out of her way to ask the Starbucks barista not to include a straw with her daily drink. Yes, I realize that one less person using a few less straws will not solve the climate crisis, but I am just one person who inspired another person to make a change. The mindset that comes with that kind of thinking is what matters. The fact that my voice, which at the time only reached a few friends, still made a small change. It is events like that that encourage people like 16-year-old Greta Thunberg to continue to work towards their goals and educate as many as they can on the climate crisis.
Despite Greta Thunberg's young age, her name is known internationally. Thunberg has already written the book No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference and has given fierce speeches at the UN, EU, and her own Ted Talk. Additionally, Time magazine has named her a "Next Generation Leader". Incredibly, these accomplishments have all been possible despite her young age and diagnoses of Asperger's, selective mutism, and OCD. Thunberg does not see these challenges as a hindrance, but rather her "superpower". Some may expect her diagnoses to tarnish credibility, as she says she doesn't understand the social games the rest of society plays. However, this works in her benefit, like a superpower, because she is not afraid to boldly say what so many leaders tip toe around.
In Thunberg's 2018 Ted Talk, she clearly and simply lays out the changes that must be made in order to slow the progression of the climate crisis. The question, "Are we evil?" is posed half way through her talk. Thunberg answers her own question and says we are not. Thunberg essentially says that humans are naive, and calmly but firmly criticizes the media for their lack of coverage on the climate crisis as people do not feel they are in a crisis if the news hasn't covered it as a headline or breaking news story. Thunberg makes a simple yet extremely valid point which is continuously overlooked. If society would panic over the climate crisis the way it had during the Ebola outbreak, and reduced their meat and dairy consumption as quickly as they purchased surgical masks to cover their mouths, then maybe international policy change would fall in line as quickly as the masks had. Unfortunately though, since nature does not bleed, does not cry, and cannot ask for help all while suburbs are consistently landscaped by man, the climate crisis will continue to go unnoticed.
It is because the climate crisis goes so unnoticed on a daily basis that we must speak for the Earth like Thunberg has and does, even if we are just one person. Every person has a voice, no matter how small.
Thunberg's Ted Talk:
https://www.ted.com/talks/greta_thunberg_the_disarming_case_to_act_right_now_on_climate?language=en
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