3 Reasons to Follow Greta

If you still haven’t heard about Greta, the 16 year old phenomenon from Stockholm who just completed her 41st consecutive week of Friday School Strike for the Climate and has nearly 2 million Instagram followers, then it's time you did. Her basic premise is that students across the world should participate in school strikes because there is no point studying if grownups aren’t protecting a future for them to live, love, and function in. She deliberately strikes in front of the Parliament building because she wants the attention of lawmakers. 

Here are 3 reasons to follow her. 

1/There is something remarkable about listening and learning from a 16 year old.

Maybe it’s because she’s got that youthful innocence combined with a tremendous sense of urgency. For example, Greta told the World Summit in Vienna this week “This is the biggest crisis humanity has ever faced. This is not something you can just like on Facebook”. 

Maybe it’s because she has not been impacted by the misogyny and cynicism so many seem to confront in their 20’s?

Perhaps it’s because she is so compelling as she weaves facts and figures, sensibility and story. This is inter-generational learning at its best.

2/This movement is not going away. It has truly just begun. 

The youth may be leading this movement but they still need all of us pressuring lawmakers and making personal changes to reduce our carbon footprint. 

3/We are living in a period of great distrust. Don't let that slow you down.

We don't always know who to believe or what to believe. I often hear people share that they are overwhelmed and unsure where to place their finite resources. 

Let me suggest that the planet is one of those umbrella concerns that has a deadline and irreversible consequences for missing it.

And since climate change impacts it all—healthcare, education, housing, food supplies, employment, poverty, discrimination-- it’s always a good choice.

I’m sharing this because in the coming months Greta will become a household word. But you don’t have to wait till that day. I invite you to consider actions to reduce your carbon footprint today such as eating less meat, replacing old oil and gas boilers, replacing energy-guzzling halogen lights with LEDs, and buying from companies that support the switch to a low-carbon future. When GRETA-mania hits the United States later this year, she will have travelled by boat and not airplane. She follows a vegan diet. She walks the talk.

And oh yes, follow Greta Thunberg on Instagram to bear witness to history.