Greta Thunberg, a 16-year-old climate change activist from Sweden, is leading a global campaign called the School Strike for Climate. She is encouraging students to skip school every Friday and lobby outside of their representatives’ offices to demand that they start treating climate change as the crisis it is. On October 20^th, 2018, Thunberg decided to skip school to protest her government’s inaction in reducing greenhouse gas emissions in accordance with the Paris Agreement. She received praise from climate activists as her protests became weekly events. The protests grew to include over 1.5 million students worldwide skipping school on March 15^th, making the School Strike for Climate one of the largest global environmental protests in history.

Thunberg’s message is not optimistic. In her address to the United Nations Climate Change Conference and the World Economic Forum, she expressed the fear she has for her future and the future of generations to come. She challenged many world leaders’ desire to conserve traditional industrial manufacturing methods by stating that they benefit only the wealthy elite at the rest of society’s expense. To ensure that her children and grandchildren have a future, politicians must act now.

“Adults keep saying “We owe it to the young people to give us hope,” but I don’t want your hope. I don’t want you to be hopeful. I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day, and then I want you to act.”

The fossil fuel industry is one of many major contributors to the rise in greenhouse gas emissions. Thunberg’s plan calls for a complete shift from nonrenewable energy sources to those that have proven to be fully sustainable. However, she acknowledges that this cannot be done unless industry leaders and politicians accept the correlation between the climate change crisis and the extraction and burning of fossil fuels. Thunberg’s worldwide school walkouts have been effective in rallying support from younger generations, but the next step is to encourage politicians to side with the children whose future rests in their hands.

Thunberg’s work has earned her a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize. If she wins, she will become the youngest person to ever receive the award. Three Norwegian parliament members nominated her because of her success in launching a movement that promises to promote world peace by decelerating climate change. Greta’s contributions to the environmental movement have inspired young students to take action against the perpetuators of climate change.