I vividly remember my life as a 15-year-old. My 10th grade English teacher gave the class an assignment to write our first “term paper.” My life would have been very different had we not been allowed to choose any topic that interested us. I wrote about the newly created Child-Parent Centers or CPCs, first created in 1967 in Chicago, as a model learning environment. My research and subsequent paper writing became the sparks that have fueled my lifelong vocation in the future of learning.
Greta Thunberg first heard about global warming when she was 8-years-old. At the age of 15, she sat down on the ground outside of the Swedish Parliament and began her “school strike.” Here is an excerpt of a talk she gave at Facebook in Stockholm on February 2 of this year:
“When I told my parents about my plans, they weren’t very fond of it. They did not support the idea of school striking and they said that if I were to do this I would have to do it completely by myself and with no support from them.
On the 20th of August [2018] I sat down outside the Swedish parliament. I handed out fliers with a long list of facts about the climate crisis and explanations on why I was striking. The first thing I did was post on Twitter and Instagram what I was doing and it soon went viral. Then journalists and newspapers started to come.”
Because I follow Greta on Instagram, I saw the link to her talk on July 23 at the French Parliament. Watch it here.
You will find the latest IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) Special Report, Global Warming of 1.5° C, Chapter 2, page 108 that she references at 1:22 minutes into her speech online here. (You can find SR1.5—the full report—here.)
As I write this post on July 25, 2019, two days after Greta’s most recent talk in the Assemblée Nationale in Paris, Paris registered the hottest day on record. According to the Accuweather website:
“Following the record warm start to the day, Thursday brought the peak of the deadly heat wave in France as temperatures soared to 42.6 C (108.7 F) in Paris. That reading shattered the city’s all-time high temperature record of 40.4 C (104.7 F) at Parc Montsouris, set more than 70 years ago.”
Young people are so much more capable than we often realize. Greta Thunberg is one of the most articulate voices I have heard speaking about the climate crisis, or “climate emergency” as she prefers. Are you exploring what she’s saying in your family conversations about technology? If you have tweens or teens, consider doing some co-viewing of her talks on YouTube, and take a look at her Twitter and Instagram accounts. Or listen to the collaboration she just did with The 1975. The 1975 are jetting around the world on their new tour. Greta traveled 32 hours by train to speak in Davos. Good catalysts for conversation.
I’M READING
No One is Too Small to Make a Difference— collection of Greta’s speeches from September 8, 2018 (Climate March, Stockholm) to April 23, 2019 (Houses of Parliament, London). Published May 30, 2019 by Penguin UK.
Greta answers questions from supporters in The Guardian. July 21, 2019.
IPCC Special Report: Global Warming of 1.5° C
I’M WATCHING
Greta Thunberg speech at French Parliament, July 23, 2019 (12:15 mins long)
I’M LISTENING
The 1975’s new album with Greta Thunberg. If you use Spotify, listen here. If not, it’s on YouTube here.
