i am sassa

In 2019, Greta Thunberg became Time magazine’s youngest ever Person of the Year. She was sixteen years old. She’s also been given the Ambassador of Conscience Award, the International Children’s Peace Prize, and has had two consecutive nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize.

After listening to her speak all day as I painted her, I am under the impression that she put up with all of it only to get what she really, truly wants: change. It is so obvious that this is not a person who is in it for fame. She declined the Nordic Council Environment Prize, stating that “the climate movement does not need any more awards”.

Greta grew up in Stockholm, Sweden, and began learning about climate change when she was eight years old. At fifteen, she won an essay contest in her local newspaper on climate change, and then began a weekly strike from school. She spent every Friday in front of the Swedish parliament building, sitting beside a sign that read “SKOLSTREJK FÖR KLIMATET” (School Strike for Climate). She vowed to continue weekly until Sweden met the Paris agreement’s carbon emissions target. Her protests quickly went viral on social media, and students in schools all around the globe started joining her.

Greta took last year off from school entirely to travel the world speaking out about the climate crisis. She has credited her dedication to the cause, in part, to the fact that she has Asperger Syndrome, a condition on the Autism spectrum that can be characterized by an all-absorbing interest in certain topics. She says she sees most things as black and white, and once she learned the facts about climate change, she felt shocked by the lack of knowledge and concern of others. Like watching a house burn to the ground while no one reacts. She let this panicked emotion fly at the U.N. Climate Action Summit, where she gave a speech that ended up being summarized by the media in three powerful words: How Dare You? I’ve linked the speech below, and it is worth a listen. She’s outraged, and with just cause. She is well aware that the heads that choose to turn away from climate change are not the ones who will suffer most from their choices. It hurt me to watch it. Greta was born the same year as my son.

Her U.N. speech received an absolutely hideous backlash. She was called a “mentally ill Swedish child”, and her likeness was compared to Nazi propaganda. Never one to miss an opportunity to ridicule someone with a developmental disorder, our own commander-in-chief mocked her on twitter, saying she should work on her “anger management” and just “chill”. U.S. Treasury Chief Steve Mnuchin followed suit, telling her to “go away and learn about economics”. Cool.

Greta practices exactly what she preaches. She is vegan and refuses to fly due to the heavy carbon footprint of aviation. She has taken trains, boats, and even famously borrowed Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Tesla Model 3 to travel while in the States. Though Covid has slowed her travels, she is still hard at work and does not seem to be slowing down any time soon. Between listening to her and Jane Goodall speak, I am definitely re-evaluating my own carbon footprint.

Thank you, Greta Thunberg.