Thunberg was arrested along with other activists earlier this year during protests against the demolition of a small village in Germany to make way for a coal mine.
Bernd Lauter | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg took part in her final school strike on Friday, ending with a warning that “the fight has only just begun” after 251 weeks of demonstrations.
“Today, I graduated from school, which means I will no longer be able to strike for the climate,” Thunberg said on Twitter. “This is the last school strike for me, so I thought I’d have to write something on this day.”
The 20-year-old shot to fame in 2018 when he skipped to hold a weekly vigil outside the Swedish parliament every Friday. As she did in August of that year, Thunberg marked her last school strike by protesting with a handcrafted sign that translates to “Climate Schools Strike.”
Initially a one-man demo, Thunberg’s behavior will continue sparked global protests for climate action. After millions of children in more than 180 countries took part in climate-focused school strikes in 2019, the coronavirus pandemic forced the Fridays for Future movement to find new avenues of protest.
thunberg was named Time Magazine’s 2019 Person of the Year – That same year, she was criticized by the likes of then-US President Donald Trump and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
Thunberg was arrested along with other activists earlier this year during protests against the demolition of a small village in Germany to make way for a coal mine.
“A lot has changed since we started, but we still have a long way to go,” Thunberg said. “We are still headed in the wrong direction, allowing those in power to sacrifice marginalized and affected people and the planet in the name of greed, profit and economic growth.”
“We are rapidly approaching potentially nonlinear ecological and climate tipping points beyond our control,” she continued. “Many of us graduates may now be wondering what kind of future we’re stepping into, even if we didn’t cause this crisis.”
“We who can speak out have a responsibility to do so. To change everything, we need everyone. I will continue to protest on Friday, even though it is not technically a ‘school strike’. We have no choice but to do what we can I can,” Thunberg said. “The battle has just begun.”
Thunberg had previously denounced climate inaction by world political and business leaders at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, explain “Our house is on fire,” January 2019.
Professional course correction
Earlier this year, the world’s leading climate scientists urged global government leaders to Urgently correcting course to deal with climate emergency, warning current plans are not enough to prevent the worst crisis.
The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said in a landmark report released on March 20 that the unprecedented challenge of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels in recent years is unprecedented given rising global greenhouse gas emissions become more severe.
The temperature threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius is widely considered critical because the so-called tipping point is more likely to be exceeded. The tipping point is the threshold at which small changes can lead to large changes in the entire life support system of the planet.