You don’t have to be a grown up to make a positive change in your community. Greta Thurnberg received global attention after her school strikes began to take center stage on the news. However, her story started long before that.
“I think my concern about the environment and climate change began in school, when I was maybe 8 or 9-years-old,” she explains in the book I Know this to be True: Greta Thurnberg. “I saw and heard these horrible stories about what humans had done to the environment, and what we were doing to the climate, that the climate was changing… I just couldn’t understand how we could just continue not caring about this.”
Greta’s concerns about the environment weighed heavily on her and caused her to become depressed."I think the lowest depth of misery is when you're too depressed to see that you yourself actually matter," says Greta Thunberg, in I Know This to Be True: Greta Thunberg.
Greta gained attention in August 2018 when she started striking solo outside her school. Her actions have sparked numerous student-led strikes for the climate around the globe, including strikes here in Pittsburgh and across the United States.
In an interview with BBC, Mr Thunberg said Greta’s activism has made her happy. "You think she's not ordinary now because she's special, and she's very famous, and all these things. But to me she's now an ordinary child - she can do all the things like other people can," he said. "She dances around, she laughs a lot, we have a lot of fun - and she's in a very good place."
In the book I Know This to Be True: Greta Thunberg, she says “My dogs make me happy! And when something is happening — like when change is coming, or happening. For example, when I see children school-striking, that makes me happy. To look through the internet and just see millions of children who are school-striking for the climate — that makes me happy as well.”
Greta’s story and experience should remind us all of the power of a single voice, shared with courage, can create so much meaningful change. You can make a change in your community too! On February 15 at 6:00pm, you and the youth in your life are invited to join the team at Protect PT for our kickoff webinar, Team Building for Climate Action: Empowering Youth to Change the World.
Sign up now at https://www.protectpt.org/youth-action.
Be the Helper in your community! Through Protect PT’s program, youth will gain the skills to organize their community and bring about sustainable change - start a community garden, encourage reusable utensils at school lunches, or demand officials adapt clean air ordinances - the possibilities reach as far as your mind and Protect PT is here to help you along the way.
Youth have tremendous power to affect change - they just need the resources to pursue their passions.
To learn more about this program or sign up, visit https://www.protectpt.org/youth-action. Join us Monday February 15 @ 6:00 pm for the Team Building for Climate Action Virtual Kick-Off Event.