22 Greta Thunberg Quotes Advancing Climate Justice

The gap between what we need to do and what is actually being done is widening by the minute. We are still speeding in the wrong direction.
- Greta Thunberg

The denial of the climate and ecological crisis runs so deep that hardly anyone takes real notice any more.
- Greta Thunberg

To all of you who choose to look the other way every day because you seem more frightened of the changes that can prevent catastrophic climate change than the catastrophic climate change itself. Your silence is almost worst of all.
-Greta Thunberg, At the Climate March in Stockholm on September 13, 2018

Adults keep saying: ‘We owe it to the young people to give them hope.’ But I don't want your hope. I don't want you to be hopeful. I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day. And then I want you to act. I want you to act as you would in a crisis. I want you to act as if our house is on fire. Because it is.
-Greta Thunberg, At the World Economic Forum in Switzerland on January 25, 2019.

Some people say that the climate crisis is something we have all created. But that is just another convenient lie. Because if everyone is guilty then no one is to blame.
- Greta Thunberg

You say nothing in life is black or white. But that is a lie. A very dangerous lie. Either we prevent 1.5 degree [Celsius] of warming or we don’t. Either we avoid setting off that irreversible chain reaction beyond human control or we don’t. Either we choose to go on as a civilisation or we don’t. That is as black or white as it gets. There are no grey areas when it comes to survival.
-Greta Thunberg

The numbers don’t lie, and the science is clear. If anyone tells you, 'This is part of a normal cycle' or 'We’ve had fires like this before', smile politely and walk away, because they don’t know what they’re talking about.
-Greta Thunberg

Build back better. Blah, blah, blah. Green economy. Blah blah blah. Net zero by 2050. Blah, blah, blah. This is all we hear from our so-called leaders. Words that sound great but so far have not led to action. Our hopes and ambitions drown in their empty promises.
- Greta Thunberg

We can no longer let the people in power decide what is politically possible. We can no longer let the people in power decide what hope is. Hope is not passive. Hope is not blah, blah, blah. Hope is telling the truth. Hope is taking action. And hope always comes from the people.
-Greta Thunberg, At the Youth4Climate summit in Italy on September 28, 2021.

And what is the point of learning facts within the school system when the most important facts given by the finest science of that same school system clearly mean nothing to our politicians and our society?
-Greta Thunberg, At the TEDxStockholm in November 2018.

You are failing us. But the young people are starting to understand your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us, I say: We will never forgive you. We will not let you get away with this. Right here, right now is where we draw the line. The world is waking up. And change is coming, whether you like it or not.
-Greta Thunberg, At the UN Climate Action Summit on September 23, 2019.

You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet, I’m one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth.
-Greta Thunberg

You lied to us. You gave us false hope. You told us that the future was something to look forward to. And the saddest thing is that most children are not even aware of the fate that awaits us. We will not understand it until it’s too late. And yet we are the lucky ones. Those who will be affected the hardest are already suffering the consequences. But their voices are not heard.
-Greta Thunberg

With every negotiation, with every speech made by a world leader and with every agreement they sign, it becomes clear that it is up to us as a global collective to take the action we so desperately need and show where the leadership truly lies.
-Greta Thunberg, Addressing COP 29 on her X account.

The COP has turned into a PR event, where leaders are giving beautiful speeches and announcing fancy commitments and targets while behind the curtains the governments of the global north countries are still refusing to take any drastic climate action. It seems like their main goal is to continue to fight for the status quo.
-Greta Thunberg, Addressing COP 26 in a Fridays for Future rally in Glasgow.

We live in a strange world where children must sacrifice their own education in order to protest against the destruction of their future. Where the people who have contributed the least to this crisis are the ones who are going to be affected the most.
- Greta Thunberg

When I’m taking action, I don’t feel like I am helpless and that things are hopeless, because then I feel like I’m doing everything I can. And that gives me very much hope, especially to see all the other people all around the world, the activists, who are taking action and who are fighting for their present and for their future.
-Greta Thunberg

We children are doing this to wake the adults up. We children are doing this for you to put your differences aside and start acting as you would in a crisis. We children are doing this because we want our hopes and dreams back.
-Greta Thunberg, In an interview with Earth.org.

So, we can’t save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed. Everything needs to change and it has to start today.
- Greta Thunberg

We've had 30 years of pep-talking and selling positive ideas. And I'm sorry, but it doesn't work. Because if it would have, the emissions would have gone down by now. They haven't. And yes, we do need hope, of course we do. But the one thing we need more than hope is action. Once we start to act, hope is everywhere.
- Greta Thunberg

We cannot solve a crisis without treating it as a crisis. Nor can we treat something like a crisis unless we understand the emergency. So, let’s make this our main priority. Let’s unite and spread awareness. Once we become aware, then we can act. Then, change will come. This is the solution. We are the hope. We the people.
-Greta Thunberg, In an official video she published in December 2020

Science doesn’t lie. If we are to stay below the targets set in the 2015 Paris agreement – and thereby minimise the risks of setting off irreversible chain reactions beyond human control – we need immediate, drastic, annual emission reductions unlike anything the world has ever seen.
-Greta Thunberg