Greta Thunberg Age, Family, Story, Biography & More
Some Lesser Known Facts About Greta Thunberg
- Greta Thunberg is a Swedish climate activist; campaigning against global warming and climate change.
- She was born into a modest family in the capital city of Stockholm in Sweden.
- Her mother, Malena Ernman, is a popular opera singer in Sweden; while her father, Svante Thunberg, is a Swedish actor.
- Interestingly, Greta’s father, Svante Thunberg, is the descendant of Svante Arrhenius, the Nobel Prize-winning scientist, who first calculated the greenhouse effect caused by carbon dioxide emissions in 1896, known to some as the “father of climate change science.” She was also named after him.
- When she was about 8 years old and in the third grade, she first heard about something called”Climate Change” and “Global Warming.”
- The little Greta started pondering over the concept of climate change and global warming when she was told by her teachers to turn off the lights and save papers. She says-
They were always talking about how we should turn off lights, save water, not throw out food.”
- She started feeling strange that even after being aware of the consequences of climate change and global warming, why humans haven’t taken any substantial steps regarding that. Greta says-
I thought this was very strange. If humans could really change the climate, everyone would be talking about it and people wouldn’t be talking about anything else. But this wasn’t happening.”
- By the age of 11, she had become ill; thinking over the effects of human activity on climate change. She stopped talking and eating, and, within two months, she lost 10 kg of weight.
- Later, Greta and her younger sister, Beata, were diagnosed with autism, A.D.H.D. (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), i.e., Asperger’s and other conditions.
- Greta began researching climate change. She gave up eating meat and turned vegan. She also insisted her family turn vegan and give up flying. She says-
For me none of this is sacrifice, I don’t need those things,” she said. “I understand that some people see it as sacrifice. People don’t want to stop flying but it’s just something we have to do. There’s no other option.”
- Consequently, her mother, Malena Ernman, gave up her international career because of the climate effects of aviation. Greta’s father, Svante, says-
Greta forced us to change our lives. I didn’t have a clue about the climate. We started looking into it, reading all the books – she has read them too.”
- The family has also installed solar batteries and has started growing their own vegetables on an allotment outside the city.
- On August 20, 2018, when she had just started ninth grade, she went on a school strike and decided not to attend school until the 2018 Sweden general election on September 9, 2018.
- Thunberg started protesting by sitting outside the Riksdag, the Swedish Parliament, every day during school hours with the sign “Skolstrejk för klimatet” (school strike for the climate); handing out leaflets to the passersby that declared: “I am doing this because you adults are shitting on my future.”
- After the 2018 Swedish general elections, Thunberg continued to strike only on Fridays, gaining worldwide attention.
- Initially, nobody supported her protest, and she had to sit alone outside the Swedish Parliament. Later, many school students across the globe got inspired by Greta’s protest and started taking part in student strikes.
- When Thunberg started her protest, her parents and some of her teachers wanted her to give up her protest and go back to school.
- In an interview, Thunberg said that she got inspired to begin the climate school strike by the teen activists at Parkland school in Florida, who organized the March For Our Lives.
- After protesting outside the Swedish Parliament, Greta participated in the Rise for Climate demonstration outside the European Parliament in Brussels.
- In October 2018, Greta and her family drove in an electric car to London, where Greta addressed the ‘Declaration of Rebellion’ organized by Extinction Rebellion opposite the Houses of Parliament.
- On November 24, 2018, Thunberg spoke at TEDxStockholm.
- On December 4, 2018, Greta Thunberg addressed the COP24 United Nations climate change summit.
- On January 23, 2019, she arrived in Davos after a 32-hour train journey to address at the World Economic Forum; where many delegates had arrived by up to 1500 individual private jet flights.
- Greta considers the famous primatologist Jane Goodall as her hero.
- Greta is very compassionate towards animals and has two pet dogs at her home in Sweden.
- Even after having Asperger’s syndrome, Greta sees her condition not as a disability but as a gift which has helped open her eyes to the climate crisis. She says-
The best thing about my protest has been to see how more and more people have been coming and getting involved. I don’t care if I get into trouble at school. I believe that one person can make a difference.”
- In May 2019, at the age of 16, Greta was featured on the cover of the prestigious Time Magazine.
- The famous artist, Jody Thomas, honored Greta with a stunning street art mural. He painted Thunberg’s portrait on the side of the 15-meter-high Tobacco Factory building in his home city of Bristol, southwest England.
- In June 2019, Thunberg announced to sail across the Atlantic in a high-speed yacht to attend the UN Climate Action Summit in New York. She onboard a 60 ft racing yacht equipped with solar panels and underwater turbines. The yacht is claimed to have zero-emission. After a voyage of 15 days, she arrived in New York on August 28, 2019.
- In July 2019, the Secretary-General of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Mohammed Barkindo, declared Thunberg and her climate activism as the “greatest threat” to the fossil fuel industry.
- In July 2019, she partnered with the popular English band “The 1975” and gave a long voiceover on their new track.
- On September 16, 2019, she met former President Barack Obama as part of her visit to Washington, DC, to promote environmental issues. Obama said to Thunberg:
You and me, we’re a team.”
- On September 23, 2019, Greta opened the United Nations Climate Action Summit in the United Nations (UN) headquarter. Her speech at the Summit was a fierce condemnation of world leaders for failing to take strong measures to combat climate change, she said-
How dare you”
- In October 2019, a newly discovered species of beetle, “Nelloptodes gretae,” was named after her. This species of beetle is less than 1mm long and has no wings or eyes. The insect does, however, have two long pigtail-like antennae. Scientist Dr. Michael Darby said he chose the name because he was “immensely impressed” by the Swedish teenager’s environmental campaigning.
- In November 2019, Leonardo DiCaprio, the famous Hollywood actor and a prominent environmental campaigner, praised Greta Thunberg as a “leader of our time” following their first meeting. While sharing a photo with Greta on his Instagram account, he said,
It was an honor to spend time with Greta. She and I have made a commitment to support one another, in hopes of securing a brighter future for our planet.”
- In the same month, another Hollywood star, Arnold Schwarzenegger, met Greta; describing her as a “hero.” It wasn’t the first meeting between Greta and Schwarzenegger. In May 2019, she attended the Austrian World Summit in Vienna, organized by Schwarzenegger’s environmental organization #R20. In September 2019, Schwarzenegger offered Ms Thunberg the loan of a Tesla Model 3, so, she could travel using the electric-powered vehicle through the US and Canada.
It was fantastic to see my friend and one of my heroes @GretaThunberg last week and go on a bike ride around Santa Monica together and I was so pumped to introduce her to my daughter Christina. Keep inspiring, Greta! pic.twitter.com/3Q6ZuInJHY
— Arnold (@Schwarzenegger) November 4, 2019
- Greta Thunberg’s climate activism on the global stage is often termed as the “Greta Thunberg Effect.”
I have written a song that I think Great would like.
How do I get it to her?
Greta,
Ask your parent whether they will help you to start a company to book transatlantic sailing trips for non-pioneers. Congratulations.
Why do climate activists bury their heads in the sand every time China is mentioned? China is doing MASSIVE damage to the environment compared to the western world, so why must we be beaten with a big stick?
Secondly, might I suggest that climate activists demand the truth about Tesla technology. Nikola Tesla devised a way to obtain free energy for everyone by simply extracting electricity from the atmosphere – among other amazing inventions. His technology got buried by the likes of General Electric because they knew Tesla’s discoveries would end their monopoly and money supply. This has got to be one of the biggest crimes against humanity ever!
Quit blocking roads, quit chanting, quit stopping families from making a living and EXPOSE THE TRUTH ABOUT TESLA if you care so much about the environment! It could save the planet!
it’s nice this young lady is concerned about our climate. But to me this seems to be more of a push by her parents to bring light to a subject that hasn’t gotten the recognition they want. They have pushed their daughter into this limelight for their own benefit. Not only are they getting a lot of money for themselves and free world travel for her and her family. It really seems this is their push and have made it into her for their own benefit. It’s sad to see when parents use children. I would wonder at what age they started telling her she should go out and protest instead of going to school? When they started telling her it was her cause to fight? When did they decide it was ok for them not to let this child be a child and go to school? When did they decide they could get rich off her and all the freebies that are being thrown their way ? It seems that with a lot of children and she is a child, it’s more of what the parents are feeding them to get them to do the parent’s bidding. Especially when the parents have not gotten the recognition on their own for the causes they want brought to the forefront. Climate change is a bad reality of our future. The governments do not do enough to protect us. But parents as her’s that us their children to gain monetary and social acceptance are just as bad as the politicians that do nothing. How many years have they brainwashed this child? This is no different than a child being brought up with dope dealing parents and brainwashing their child that its alright to sell drugs, go into prostitution , modeling, acting and so forth. Children should have the right to know what their parents stand for but it shouldn’t be served to them 24 hours a day and the child never having a right to know both sides of any issue. Our society has used children for their own benefit way to long. Children should be allowed to know the issues of the world from both sides and as they become adults be able to make reasonable decisions as to what they ant their own issues they want to stand for, not the issues that their parents have fed them 24 hours a day. What if she had wanted to be a artist at 10/12 and instead all she got to do was go to climate change meetings and only hear about climate change. What she wanted was not the agenda her parents had for them to get rich or richer and use her to bring their agenda to the forefront. VERY SAD FOR THIS YOUNG LADY. She never had a chance to make up her mind as to what she may have wanted out of life. It may very well have been climate change but without her even getting a chance to know what the other world issues were who will ever know. VERY SAD.
Useful Idiot!
If Greta wants to talk about climate change that is all well and good. But it is my suspension that her parents are pushing her. Why is it that those demanding climate change will not give mathematical facts on the earth’s previous cycles, the future cycles, and attack China & the elite for their excessive pollution. Why don’t they promote the planting of more trees & vegetation while siteing mathematical facts? Tell us Ms Greta, what caused the Ice Age and the regression of the glaciers? If you can’t understand the past, don’t preach about the future.