0:00:01.357,0:00:04.093
When I was about eight years old,

0:00:04.117,0:00:08.359
I first heard about something[br]called climate change or global warming.

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Apparently, that was something[br]humans have created by our way of living.

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I was told to turn off[br]the lights to save energy

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and to recycle paper to save resources.

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I remember thinking[br]that it was very strange

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that humans, who are[br]an animal species among others,

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could be capable of changing[br]the earth's climate.

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Because if we were,[br]and if it was really happening,

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we wouldn't be talking[br]about anything else.

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As soon as you'd turn on the TV,[br]everything would be about that.

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Headlines, radio, newspapers,

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you would never read or hear[br]about anything else,

0:00:55.128,0:00:57.086
as if there was a world war going on.

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But no one ever talked about it.

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If burning fossil fuels was so bad[br]that it threatened our very existence,

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how could we just continue like before?

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Why were there no restrictions?

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Why wasn't it made illegal?

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To me, that did not add up.

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It was too unreal.

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So when I was 11, I became ill.

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I fell into depression,

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I stopped talking,

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and I stopped eating.

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In two months,[br]I lost about 10 kilos of weight.

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Later on, I was diagnosed[br]with Asperger syndrome,

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OCD and selective mutism.

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That basically means I only speak[br]when I think it's necessary.

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Now is one of those moments.

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(Laughter)

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(Applause)

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For those of us who are on the spectrum,

0:02:06.362,0:02:08.545
almost everything is black or white.

0:02:09.545,0:02:11.093
We aren't very good at lying,

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and we usually don't enjoy[br]participating in this social game

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that the rest of you seem so fond of.

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(Laughter)

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I think in many ways[br]that we autistic are the normal ones,

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and the rest of the people[br]are pretty strange,

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(Laughter)

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especially when it comes to[br]the sustainability crisis,

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where everyone keeps saying[br]climate change is an existential threat

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and the most important issue of all,

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and yet they just carry on like before.

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I don't understand that,

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because if the emissions have to stop,

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then we must stop the emissions.

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To me that is black or white.

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There are no gray areas[br]when it comes to survival.

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Either we go on[br]as a civilization or we don't.

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We have to change.

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Rich countries like Sweden[br]need to start reducing emissions

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by at least 15 percent every year.

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And that is so that we can stay[br]below a two-degree warming target.

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Yet, as the IPCC[br]have recently demonstrated,

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aiming instead for 1.5 degrees Celsius

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would significantly[br]reduce the climate impacts.

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But we can only imagine[br]what that means for reducing emissions.

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You would think the media[br]and every one of our leaders

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would be talking about nothing else,

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but they never even mention it.

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Nor does anyone ever mention

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the greenhouse gases[br]already locked in the system.

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Nor that air pollution is hiding a warming

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so that when we stop burning fossil fuels,

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we already have an extra level of warming

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perhaps as high as[br]0.5 to 1.1 degrees Celsius.

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Furthermore does hardly[br]anyone speak about the fact

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that we are in the midst[br]of the sixth mass extinction,

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with up to 200 species[br]going extinct every single day,

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that the extinction rate today

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is between 1,000 and 10,000 times higher

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than what is seen as normal.

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Nor does hardly anyone ever speak about[br]the aspect of equity or climate justice,

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clearly stated everywhere[br]in the Paris Agreement,

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which is absolutely necessary[br]to make it work on a global scale.

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That means that rich countries

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need to get down to zero emissions[br]within six to 12 years,

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with today's emission speed.

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And that is so that people[br]in poorer countries

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can have a chance to heighten[br]their standard of living

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by building some of the infrastructure[br]that we have already built,

0:04:56.747,0:04:59.823
such as roads, schools, hospitals,

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clean drinking water,[br]electricity, and so on.

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Because how can we expect[br]countries like India or Nigeria

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to care about the climate crisis

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if we who already have everything[br]don't care even a second about it --

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or our actual commitments[br]to the Paris Agreement?

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So, why are we not reducing our emissions?

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Why are they in fact still increasing?

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Are we knowingly causing[br]a mass extinction?

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Are we evil?

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No, of course not.

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People keep doing what they do

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because the vast majority[br]doesn't have a clue

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about the actual consequences[br]of our everyday life.

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And they don't know[br]that rapid change is required.

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We all think we know,[br]and we all think everybody knows,

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but we don't.

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Because how could we?

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If there really was a crisis,

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and if this crisis was caused[br]by our emissions,

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you would at least see some signs.

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Not just flooded cities,[br]tens of thousands of dead people

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and whole nations leveled[br]to piles of torn down buildings.

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You would see some restrictions.

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But no.

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And no one talks about it.

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There are no emergency meetings,[br]no headlines, no breaking news.

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No one is acting[br]as if we were in a crisis.

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Even most climate scientists[br]or green politicians

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keep on flying around the world,[br]eating meat and dairy.

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If I live to be 100,[br]I will be alive in the year 2103.

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When you think about the future today,[br]you don't think beyond the year 2050.

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By then, I will, in the best case,[br]not even have lived half of my life.

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What happens next?

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The year 2078,[br]I will celebrate my 75th birthday.

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If I have children or grandchildren,[br]maybe they will spend that day with me.

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Maybe they will ask me about you,

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the people who were around back in 2018.

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Maybe they will ask[br]why you didn't do anything

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while there still was time to act.

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What we do or don't do right now[br]will affect my entire life

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and the lives of my children[br]and grandchildren.

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What we do or don't do right now,

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me and my generation[br]can't undo in the future.

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So when school[br]started in August of this year,

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I decided that this was enough.

0:08:05.983,0:08:09.811
I set myself down on the ground[br]outside the Swedish parliament.

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I school striked for the climate.

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Some people say that[br]I should be in school instead.

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Some people say that I should study[br]to become a climate scientist

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so that I can "solve the climate crisis."

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But the climate crisis[br]has already been solved.

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We already have[br]all the facts and solutions.

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All we have to do is[br]to wake up and change.

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And why should I be studying for a future[br]that soon will be no more

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when no one is doing anything[br]whatsoever to save that future?

0:08:47.737,0:08:50.936
And what is the point of learning facts[br]in the school system

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when the most important facts

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given by the finest science[br]of that same school system

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clearly means nothing[br]to our politicians and our society?

0:09:03.575,0:09:06.424
Some people say that Sweden[br]is just a small country,

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and that it doesn't matter what we do,

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but I think that if a few children[br]can get headlines all over the world

0:09:14.095,0:09:16.562
just by not coming to school[br]for a few weeks,

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imagine what we could all do[br]together if you wanted to.

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(Applause)

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Now we're almost at the end of my talk.

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And this is where people[br]usually start talking about hope,

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solar panels, wind power,[br]circular economy, and so on,

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but I'm not going to do that.

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We've had 30 years of pep-talking[br]and selling positive ideas.

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And I'm sorry, but it doesn't work.

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Because if it would have,

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the emissions would have gone down by now.

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They haven't.

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And yes, we do need hope,

0:10:00.496,0:10:01.743
of course we do.

0:10:02.476,0:10:05.910
But the one thing we need[br]more than hope is action.

0:10:06.956,0:10:09.553
Once we start to act, hope is everywhere.

0:10:11.768,0:10:13.911
So instead of looking for hope,

0:10:13.935,0:10:15.133
look for action.

0:10:16.474,0:10:19.775
Then, and only then, hope will come.

0:10:22.450,0:10:28.813
Today, we use 100 million[br]barrels of oil every single day.

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There are no politics to change that.

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There are no rules[br]to keep that oil in the ground.

0:10:37.162,0:10:40.062
So we can't save the world[br]by playing by the rules,

0:10:40.952,0:10:43.205
because the rules have to be changed.

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Everything needs to change,

0:10:46.647,0:10:48.219
and it has to start today.

0:10:48.941,0:10:50.092
Thank you.

0:10:50.116,0:10:55.246
(Applause)