PANIC LIKE
THE HOUSE IS
ON FIRE
Written by
GRETA THUNBERG
My name is
GRETA THUNBERG
I am
16 YEARS OLD
I come from
SWEDEN
And I want you
TO PANIC
I want you
TO ACT
As if your house
WAS ON FIRE
I have said
THOSE WORDS BEFORE
And a lot of people
HAVE EXPLAINED
Why that is a
BAD IDEA
A great number of politicians have told me
THAT PANIC NEVER LEADS TO ANYTHING GOOD
AND I AGREE
To panic unless you have to
IS A TERRIBLE IDEA
But when your house is
ON FIRE
And you want to keep your house from
BURNING TO THE GROUND
Then that does require some
LEVEL OF PANIC
Our civilization is so fragile It is almost like a castle built in the sand
THE FACADE IS SO BEAUTIFUL BUT THE FOUNDATIONS ARE FAR FROM SOLID
We have been cutting
SO MANY CORNERS
Yesterday the world watched with
DESPAIR AND ENORMOUS SORROW
How the Notre Dame
BURNT IN PARIS
Some buildings are much more than
JUST BUILDINGS
But the Notre Dame will be
REBUILT
I hope that its foundations are
STRONG
I hope that our foundations are even stronger
BUT I FEAR THEY ARE NOT
Around the year 2030 Ten years 259 days and ten hours away from now We will be
in a position where we set off an irreversible chain reaction that will most likely lead
TO THE END OF OUR CIVILIZATION AS WE KNOW IT
That is unless in that time
PERMANENT AND UNPRECEDENTED CHANGES
In all aspects of society
HAVE TAKEN PLACE
Including the reduction of
CO2 EMISSIONS BY A LEAST 50%
And please
TAKE NOTE
That these calculations
ARE DEPENDING ON
Inventions that have not yet been
INVENTED AT SCALE
Invetions that are
SUPPOSED
To clear out
OUR ATMOSPHERE
Of astronomical amounts of
CARBON DIOXIDE
Furthermore do these calculations not include
UNFORESEEN TIPPING POINTS
And feedback loops like the
EXTREMELY POWERFUL METHANE GAS
Escaping from
RAPIDLY THAWING ARCTIC PERMAFROST
Nor do they include already locked in warming hidden by
AIR POLLUTION
Nor the aspect of
EQUALITY -- OR CLIMATE JUSTICE
Clearly stated throughout
THE PARIS AGREEMENT
Which is
ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY
To make it work on a
GLOBAL SCALE
We must also bare in mind that these are just
CALCULATIONS -- ESTIMATIONS
That means that these
POINTS OF NO RETURN
May occur a bit
SOONER OR LATER THAN THAT
No one can know
FOR SURE
We can however be certain that they will occur approximately in these time frames
Because these calculations are not opinions or wild guesses
These projections are backed up by scientific facts concluded by all nations through the IPCC
Nearly every major national scientific body around the world unreservedly supports the work and findings of the IPCC
We are in the midst of the sixth mass extinction
and the extinction rate is up to ten thousand times faster than what is considered normal
WITH UP TO 200 SPECIES BECOMING EXTINCT EVERY SINGLE DAY
Erosion of fertile
TOPSOIL
Deforestation of our
GREAT FORESTS
Toxic
AIR POLLUTION
Loss of
INSECTS AND WILDLIFE
The acidifications of our
OCEANS
These are all
DISASTROUS TRENDS
Being
ACCELERATED
By a way
OF LIFE
That we here in our
FINANCIALLY FORTUNATE
Part of the world see as our right
TO SIMPLY CARRY ON
But hardly anyone knows about these
CATASTROPHES
Or understand how they are just the
FIRST FEW SYMPTOMS
Of climate
AND ECOLOGICAL BREAKDOWN
Because
HOW COULD THEY
They have not
BEEN TOLD
Or more
IMPORTANTLY
They have not been told by the right people
AND IN THE RIGHT WAY
Our house is
FALLING APART
And our leaders need to start
ACTING ACCORDINGLY
Because at the moment
THEY ARE NOT
If our house was
FALLING APART
Our leaders wouldnt go one
LIKE YOU DO TODAY
You would change almost every part
OF YOUR BEHAVIOR
As you do in
AN EMERGENCY
If our house was
FALLING APART
You wouldnt fly
AROUND THE WORLD
In buisiness class
CHATTING
About how the market
WILL SOLVE EVERYTHING
With clever
SMALL SOLUTIONS
To specific
ISOLATED PROBLEMS
You wouldnt talk about
BUYING AND BUILDING
Your way out of
A CRISIS
That has been created by
BUYING AND BUILDING THINGS
If our house was
FALLING APART
You wouldnt hold
3 EMERGENCY BREXIT SUMMITS
And no emergency summit regarding the
BREAKDOWN OF THE CLIMATE AND ENVIROMENT
You wouldnt be
ARGUING
About phasing out coal
IN 15 OR 11 YEARS
If our house was
FALLING APART
You wouldnt be
CELEBRATING
That one single
NATION
Like Ireland may soon
DIVEST FROM FOSSIL FUELS
You wouldnt
CELEBRATE
That Norway has decided to
STOP DRILLING
For oil outside of the scenic resort of
LOFOTEN ISLAND
But will continue to drill everywhere else
FOR DECADES
Its 30 years
TOO LATE
For that kind of
CELEBRATION
If out house was falling apart the media wouldnt be writing about anything else
THE ONGOING CLIMATE AND ECOLOGICAL CRISIS WOULD MAKE UP THE HEADLINES
If our house was
FALLING APART
You wouldnt say that you have the solution
UNDER CONTROL
And place the future living conditions
FOR ALL LIVING SPECIES
In the hands of invetions
THAT ARE YET TO BE INVENTED
And you would not spend
ALL YOUR TIME
As politicians arguing about
TAXES OR BREXIT
If the walls
OF OUR HOUSE
Truly came
TUMBLING DOWN
Surely you would
SET YOUR DIFFERENCES ASIDE AND START COOPERATING
Well our house is falling apart
AND WE ARE RAPIDLY RUNNING OUT OF TIME
And yet basically
NOTHING IS HAPPENING
Everyone and everything
NEEDS TO CHANGE
So why waste
PRECIOUS TIME
Arguing about what and who
NEEDS TO CHANGE FIRST
EVERYONE AND EVERYTHING HAS TO CHANGE
But the bigger your platform
THE BIGGER YOUR RESPONSIBILITY
The bigger your
YOUR CARBON FOOTPRINT
The bigger your
MORAL DUTY
When I tell politicians
TO ACT
Now the most common answer is that
THEY CANT DO ANYTHING DRASTIC
Because that would be too
UNPOPULAR AMONG THE VOTERS
And they are right
OF COURSE
Since most people are
NOT EVEN AWARE
Of why those changes
ARE REQUIRED
That is why i keep telling you to
UNITE BEHIND THE SCIENECE
Make the best available science
THE HEART OF POLITICS AND DEMOCRACY
The EU elections are coming up soon
And many of us who will be affected the most by this crisis people like me
are not allowed to vote Nor are we in a position to shape the decisions of
BUSINESS POLITICS ENGINEERING MEDIA EDUCATION or SCIENECE
Because the time it takes for us to educate ourselves to do that simply no longer exists
And that is why
MILLIONS OF CHILDREN
Are taking it
TO THE STREETS
School striking
FOR THE CLIMATE
To create attention
FOR THE CLIMATE CRISIS
You need to
LISTEN TO US
We who
CANNOT VOTE
You need to
VOTE FOR US
For your
CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN
What we are doing now can soon
NO LONGER BE UNDONE
In this election you vote for the future
LIVING CONDITIONS OF MANKIND
Though the politics needed
DO NOT EXIST TODAY
Some alternatives are certainly less
WORSE THAN OTHERS
And I have read that some parties
DO NOT EVEN WANT ME STANDING HERE TODAY
Because they so
DESPERATELY
Do not want to talk
ABOUT CLIMATE BREAKDOWN
Our house is
FALLING APART
The future as well as all that we have achieved in the past
IS LITERALLY IN YOUR HANDS NOW
But its still
NOT TOO LATE TO ACT
It will take a far-reaching
VISION
It will take
COURAGE
It will take a fierce
DETERMINATION
To act now
TO LAY THE FOUNDATIONS
Where we may not know all of the details
ABOUT HOW TO SHAPE THE CEILING
In other words it will take
CATHEDRAL THINKING
I ask you to
PLEASE WAKE UP
And make the changes required
POSSIBLE
To do your best is
NO LONGER GOOD ENOUGH
We must all do the
SEEMINGLY IMPOSIBLE
And its okay if you choose
NOT TO LISTEN TO ME
I am after all
JUST A 16 YEAR OLD SCHOOL-GIRL FROM SWEDEN
But you
CANNOT IGNORE THE SCIENTIST OR THE SCIENECE
Or the
MILLIONS
Of schoolchildren
STRIKING SCHOOL
For the right to a
FUTURE
I beg you
PLEASE DO NOT FAIL ON THIS
Thank you