In 2018, Greta Thunberg and a few other young activists started something that soon became a prominent movement across the globe. The 15-year-old chose to not go to school and instead, sit in front of the Swedish Parliament holding a sign that read “School Strike for Climate”.
The posted on Twitter (now called X) and Instagram, and soon became viral. The Fridays for Future (FFF) movement subsequently emerged and now, five years later, has expanded into one of the biggest and most famous climate movements on the planet.
Turning Young People To Activists From Consumers
FFF activists demonstrate for the sake of the climate, calling for more attention from politicians towards the raging climate emergency and the implementation of the 2015 Paris deal that highlights the need for global heating to be limited to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
The first group of protesters, involving children and young adults, spent the three weeks leading to the 2018 Swedish elections in front of the Parliament. On March 15, 2019, the first globally coordinated protest took place and 1.4 million people participated.
May 2019 saw the second globally coordinated protest, followed by the third on September 20 the same year. The number of participants have been increasing ever since. The 2020 COVID pandemic forced a pause and the strikes resumed later that year.
Fridays for Future has helped turn young people from consumers to activists. The global movement has been offering youngsters across the globe the necessary friendship and community aspect and helping them take on the climate crisis.
School strike week 251. Today, I graduate from school, which means I’ll no longer be able to school strike for the climate. This is then the last school strike for me, so I guess I have to write something on this day.
— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) June 9, 2023
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Influence Of Fridays for Future On European Green Deal
Speaking to Euronews in 2021 as part of an interview, Frans Timmermans, who most recently served as Executive Vice President of the European Commission for the European Green Deal, called young activist Thunberg “a hero”.
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The influence of the Fridays for Future movement on the European Green Deal should not be underestimated. Presented by the European Union in December 2019, it is a pack of policies to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by the middle of the century.
