What Does Greta Want? And Are We Ready To Make The Change?

Greta Thunberg has opened the eyes of many teens and adults around the world with facts about the reality of climate change. It is easy to get swept up in her passionate speeches and want to stand beside her. After talking to some of the teens that passionately attended some of these protests I discovered that they do not know what Greta is specifically asking for.

Greta Thunberg wants carbon emission reductions world wide. She wants governments and policy makers around the world to put a stop to mining and burning fossil fuels. Greta asks that all citizens refrain from air travel, eat vegetarian or vegan, vote for “green” leaders and join a local activist movement.

It is important that we all understand what these changes will mean for each of us and how it will personally affect our lives. So what will change in our lives?

Powered Lives Without Fossil Fuels

The main agenda for teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg is to persuade governments to make policy changes that will decrease our global carbon footprint to a sustainable level. Most countries have created lofty climate change action plans that will decrease their carbon emissions by a certain year. Many countries are not on track to reach these goals.

Greta is demanding politicians to fight harder to protect the planet. She wants dramatic action immediately. She wants adults who have power to make a change for stopping the burning of fossil fuels to take action as if this is an emergency. Because it is an emergency.

People are used to conveniences that often require the burning of fossil fuels like driving cars, heating houses, plastic packaging and powering their homes. If we can’t burn fossil fuels anymore, how are we going to do these things?

There is a common occurrence whereby a politician will promise green action, they will get elected and then put funding into the oil and gas industry instead of the renewable resources. Political lobbying is rampant with the gas and oil industries and it topples the scales for status quo over non perfect clean energy solutions.

If the subsidization money was instead put into renewable energy source projects we would be able to move away from our reliance of fossil fuels much quicker. But we might need to cut back on the amount of power and gas we are currently using.

Less Air Travel Or None At All

Greta chose to stop travelling by air. She now takes trains and boats and buses to the places around the world she needs to go. She wants us all to consider doing the same.

I live in a middle class suburb in which almost all of our peers travel annually. And I mean they are flying over oceans into different time zones at least one a year. These are regular people that have mortgages and debt and work hard at regular jobs. But they manage to find resources to travel because it is time well spent.

The world is much more inviting when you can see amazing photos on Instagram or you can read about the safe fun experiences on travel blogs. The Internet has made is super easy to book flights and it has become affordable to stay in apartments. Technology makes it easy to get from A to B in a country with a different language because of ride sharing.

Of the 4 teenagers I went to the September climate change protest with, all of them are flying somewhere within the next few months. Peru, Indonesia, Hawaii and Rwanda.

We have developed quite a taste for travel and it has to stop.

Greta is asking us to stop flying. It is a tough pill to swallow but I think she is right. So what am I to do if I already have a trip planned? If the coronavirus hasn’t already spoiled it, I will try to make it my last flight for a long time. (sorry, I am not strong enough to cancel, lose my money and disappoint my family)

Eating Vegetarian or Vegan

One of Greta Thunberg’s simple steps to improving our carbon footprint is to eat less meat preferably becoming a vegan.

It might not surprise you to hear this one but the meat industry is a big contributor to annual carbon emissions. Livestock produces between 20 to 50% of all human made carbon emissions.

Cows take 10 times the land and produce 20 times the emissions of the same amount of plant based protein. They actually emit methane by burping, which turns out to be a significant amount.

30% of the worlds non-ice landmass is used for raising livestock. 70% of the deforestation of the Amazon is due to cattle ranches. The Amazon forest is crucial to absorbing the carbon these cows are producing.

According to a study was done in 2017, if every American swapped all of the beef in their diets for beans, they would be at least 47% of the way to meeting their 2020 greenhouse gas targets.

And that doesn’t account for dairy!

If beef and dairy were removed from the American diet, 42% of US cropland could be added to grow vegetables and legumes.

There are many health benefits of eating a vegan diet. A 2018 UK study revealed that if only 10% of the population switched to a plant based diet for the next 20 years, the government could save billions in healthcare costs. Plant based diets have less cardiovascular disease, diabetes and lower rates for certain cancers.

This one seems like a no brainer.

We Should All Vote

Greta is not old enough to vote. I’m sure it is frustrating for her to know that there is a large population of adults that have the permission to vote but do not bother.

Why wouldn’t every adult vote? I am guilty of not voting in some elections because the choices that I had to vote for didn’t seem all that great. Every politician makes promises and sometimes keep them. I’m sure their intentions are good but other things get in the way of changes being made.

But I listened to Greta and I am making more of an effort to get involved and become educated about the elections that I can vote in.

Join An Activist Movement

Greta Thunberg wants us all to get involved. There are many ways we can get involved. Becoming educated about the climate crisis is a start. Sign up for some updates, join a webinar or watch Greta’s speeches online.

There are endless opportunities to help out. Spreading information, writing to local MPs, attending public hearings.

Greta Thunberg Travels By Boat

When Greta Thunberg traveled from Europe to New York, she spent weeks on a zero-carbon sail boat. That is no small feat for a 16 year old.

This trip was criticized because in order for her to sail, 4 crew members had to fly across the Atlantic to return the boat. But overall the carbon footprint of this action is negative because it has “flight shamed” many people into not taking flights they might have otherwise taken.

The idea of flight shame started in Sweden with the term “flygskam”. People are deciding instead to travel by train. This new trend is called “tagskryt”, a Swedish term meaning “train bragging”.

The popularity of traveling by train was also made popular by Facebook page that promotes travel by train. It has seen a huge influx of members over the past year, the current count is 113k members.

The rate of increase of global air travel has grown by 4% each year. Recently, a survey done by a Swiss Bank UBS found that this rate will be cut in half due to the flight shaming trend. Greta’s choice to sail across the ocean helped this trend become so popular.

Greta Thunberg Books

Greta is not only a famous climate change activist, she is a published author of “No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference”. This 4.6 star rated book is an honest account of the climate crisis.

Her second book is set to be released on March 5, 2020 “Our House is on Fire: Scenes of a Family and a Planet in Crisis”. It is the story of Greta’s family and their struggles to change their way of life to become more sustainable on this earth.