In honor of Women’s History Month I’m reviewing No One is too Small to Make a Difference by Greta Thunberg. Thunberg is a Swedish teenager and activist who has made world headlines protesting for climate change awareness. She challenges countries around the world and their leaders to end the use of fossil fuels and reduce our carbon footprint before the effects of global warming become permanent and irreversible.
For her efforts, Thunberg was named Swedish Woman of the Year 2019 and she was selected as Time Magazine’s Person of the Year in 2019. She has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 and 2020. She is also the recipient of the Rachel Carson Prize which is given to a women who has distinguished herself in outstanding work for the environment in Norway or internationally. She shares the 2019 International Children’s Peace Prize with Divina Maloum from Cameroon.
In this book, Thunberg starts with how she became aware of this global crisis and how it has affected her, her family and her peers. She speaks frankly about having Asperger syndrome, a developmental disorder on the Autism spectrum which affects her ability to effectively socialize and communicate. She credits her condition with helping her maintain a laser focus on issues because she sees them in black and white instead of getting bogged down by the gray areas of an issue.
The body of this book is made up of speeches she has given around the world explaining her position and demanding world leaders stop making excuses and start producing results.
In every speech her message is clear. Her facts don’t waiver and she pulls no punches. Thunberg asks us to follow the science – believe in the science – listen to the science.
She cites specific examples of the IPCC’s SR15 report (the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and its report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and related greenhouse gas emission pathways). The report includes over 6,000 scientific references and was prepared by 91 authors from 40 countries.
Thunberg consistently hammers home the point that most people around the world have not heard of this report and many of the world leaders she has spoken with do not know or understand the information contained in the report.
Why? The theory she posits is world leaders, especially the leaders of the most affluent countries in the world, rely on economic indexes over scientific facts.
An interesting point she makes is the most affluent countries need to drastically reduce their carbon emissions, so poorer countries can have access to cleaner energy while improving their standard of living by building infrastructure such as roads, hospitals, electricity, schools and providing access to clean water.
Thunberg also addresses critics who claim she’s just a child and accuse her off trying to become famous or insist she’s being used by radical environmentalists with an agenda. She responds by pointing out how many years her elders have failed to address climate change; the number of mass extinctions that are occurring and the number of people dying because of natural disasters which have increased dramatically in the last 20 years. She mentions the unhealthy levels of methane gas being released by the melting of the polar ice caps.
In short, she makes an exceptional case to support her position which is backed by science. As parents, it never feels good to be called out for our shortcomings by our children, but as a parent it’s also gratifying when our children can look beyond the everyday trappings of affluence and see the big picture.
In the words of Greta Thunberg, “I want you to act as you would in a crisis. I want you to act as if our house is on fire. Because it is.”
Other books by and or Greta Thunberg:
Our House is on Fire by Greta Thunberg (written with her family)
The Greta Thunberg Story: Being Different is a Superpower by Michael Part
Greta’s Story: The Schoolgirl who went on strike to Save the Planet by Valentina Camerini
Greta and the Giants by Zoe Tucker
We are all Greta by Valentina Giannella
Photos:
Greta at podium:
Lëa-Kim Châteauneuf / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)
Thunberg with poster:
Anders Hellberg / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)
Sign:
Leonhard Lenz / CC0
Crowd protesting:
MHM55 / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)