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When I was about eight years old,

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I first heard about something
called climate change or global warming.

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

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I was told to turn off
the lights to save energy

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and to recycle paper to save resources.

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I remember thinking
that it was very strange

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that humans, who are
an animal species among others,

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could be capable of changing
the earth's climate.

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Because if we were,
and if it was really happening,

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we wouldn't be talking
about anything else.

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

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Headlines, radio, newspapers,

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you would never read or hear
about anything else,

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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
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,
I lost about 10 kilos of weight.

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Later on, I was diagnosed
with Asperger syndrome,

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OCD and selective mutism.

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That basically means I only speak
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,

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almost everything is black or white.

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We aren't very good at lying,

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and we usually don't enjoy
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
that we autistic are the normal ones,

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and the rest of the people
are pretty strange,

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(Laughter)

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especially when it comes to
the sustainability crisis,

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where everyone keeps saying
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
when it comes to survival.

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

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We have to change.

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Rich countries like Sweden
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
below a two-degree warming target.

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Yet, as the IPCC
have recently demonstrated,

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aiming instead for 1.5 degrees Celsius

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would significantly
reduce the climate impacts.

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

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You would think the media
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
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
0.5 to 1.1 degrees Celsius.

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Furthermore does hardly
anyone speak about the fact

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that we are in the midst
of the sixth mass extinction,

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with up to 200 species
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
the aspect of equity or climate justice,

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clearly stated everywhere
in the Paris Agreement,

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which is absolutely necessary
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
within six to 12 years,

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with today's emission speed.

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And that is so that people
in poorer countries

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can have a chance to heighten
their standard of living

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

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such as roads, schools, hospitals,

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clean drinking water,
electricity, and so on.

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Because how can we expect
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
don't care even a second about it --

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or our actual commitments
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
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
doesn't have a clue

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about the actual consequences
of our everyday life.

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

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We all think we know,
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
by our emissions,

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you would at least see some signs.

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Not just flooded cities,
tens of thousands of dead people

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and whole nations leveled
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,
no headlines, no breaking news.

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

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Even most climate scientists
or green politicians

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

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

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

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

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What happens next?

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

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If I have children or grandchildren,
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
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
will affect my entire life

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and the lives of my children
and grandchildren.

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What we do or don't do right now,

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

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So when school
started in August of this year,

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I decided that this was enough.

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I set myself down on the ground
outside the Swedish parliament.

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I school striked for the climate.

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Some people say that
I should be in school instead.

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Some people say that I should study
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
has already been solved.

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We already have
all the facts and solutions.

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All we have to do is
to wake up and change.

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

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

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And what is the point of learning facts
in the school system

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when the most important facts

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given by the finest science
of that same school system

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clearly means nothing
to our politicians and our society?

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Some people say that Sweden
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
can get headlines all over the world

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just by not coming to school
for a few weeks,

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imagine what we could all do
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
usually start talking about hope,

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solar panels, wind power,
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
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,

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of course we do.

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But the one thing we need
more than hope is action.

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Once we start to act, hope is everywhere.

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So instead of looking for hope,

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look for action.

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Then, and only then, hope will come.

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Today, we use 100 million
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
to keep that oil in the ground.

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So we can't save the world
by playing by the rules,

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because the rules have to be changed.

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Everything needs to change,

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and it has to start today.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)