“We have gathered today because we have chosen which path we want to take, and now we are waiting for the others to follow our example”. “We will never stop fighting for this planet, for our futures, and for the futures of our children and grandchildren.” – Greta Thunberg
People have been submerged into the idea of the climate change and other environmental issues that seem to exacerbate the future of our planet. Observably, on TV, social media platforms other known sources of publicly accessible information, the alarming extent of temperature increase and the thinning of the ozone layer tends to be underscored. People have seemingly rendered to be concerned, but not so much as FridaysforFuture social movement which surged up the wave of the importance of bringing out the voices of youngsters to sustain our sole motherland. The inception of this movement started in August 18 when a 15-year old Swedish girl, Greta Thunberg, would strike everyday for three consecutive weeks in front of the Swedish parliament skipping school and being afoul with teachers. Against all the judgement, she managed to get Swedish policies to reduce carbon emissions and maintain the 1.5 ℃ mark well in accordance with Paris Agreement by striking every Friday.(“Global #WeekForFuture September 20-27, 2019.”, 2019) Her great charisma and unwavering stance in attempts to fight the climate crisis, she started up the social movement called #FridaysforFuture which became viral on social media. This online social movement adeptly makes use of pathos, ethos, and logos in their actions against climate change.
16-year-old Swedish Climate activist Greta Thunberg speaks at the 2019 United Nations Climate Action Summit at U.N. headquarters in New York City, New York, U.S., September 23, 2019.
The video called “I Shouldn’t Be Up Here” which was delivered by Greta herself epitomized the emotion-laden part of the organization. Her speech was delivered in front of United Nations Assembly during the Climate Action Summit 2019. As a background, Greta has been intensely concerned with the climate change since the age of 8(Haynes, 2019). In a bid to her acute care for the environment, she was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome and eating disorder. She even convinced her own parents to stop traveling by plane.(Irfan, 2019) The anger that she accumulated over the years has really fleshed out in her delivery. Greta introduces by stating: “This is all wrong. I shouldn’t be here.”(Irfan, 2019) This straightforward and blunt manner really baffles the audience from the get-go and at the same time pressures the authorities for their idleness. Other than that, she pushes the words through her crying voice addressing the people in the government with a question: And all you can talk about is money and fairytales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!”.(Irfan, 2019)This emphasizes the ignorance and inaction of the government. Repetitive use of “how dare you” sentences –“How dare you! You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words.”; How dare you!””You are failing us.”– rekindles the importance of the issue and defies the authorities to reflect on their priorities.(Irfan, 2019) She stresses the grandeur of the problem via the use of such words and phrases as “mass extinction”, “collapse”. Apart from this, the emotional maneuver of having a teenage girl represent the voices of the young, empowers the right of the minors to be active in the governmental affairs.(Irfan, 2019) Having mostly school children participate in this movement by itself bears an underlying message of who will harvest the ordeal to the life-threatening problem now which are the future generations. This is how pathos comes into play with Fridays for Future social movement.
In the image below, Greta Thunberg, the sixteen-year old face of Fridays for Future movement passionately and fervently, almost breaking into inflamed tears, conveys her deeply harbored emotions of despair during the UN Conference on climate change. The brave virtue of this self-made young activist exemplifies sheer use of pathos reflecting the core values and basic principles of the movement such as protecting lives and human rights.
As for the logical aspect of the campaign, the carbon reduction has been the main goal to achieve and demonstrated the numerical predictions of what can happen if measures are not taken. The head of the campaign, Greta Thunberg, in her speech in the United Nations: Climate Action 2019 claimed that the idea of cutting the emissions in half only gives 50% chance of staying below.(“Global #WeekForFuture September 20-27, 2019.”, 2019) The reliable source of information that Greta referred to during her speech is the IPCC which is the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. She extracted that at the beginning of 2018, the world had 450 gigatons of carbon dioxide to emit; however, now, this figure dropped to 350 gigatons.(“Global #WeekForFuture September 20-27, 2019.”, 2019) Greta blames such drop in release of carbon dioxide on the excessive use of technology and aircrafts.(“Global #WeekForFuture September 20-27, 2019.”, 2019) The simple technical solutions will be useless against the amount of gas released.
The ethical part of this organization tends to be defined through its persistence in the search of the solution and is mirrored is their world-wide recognition. The organization has been represented in such events as United Nations: Climate Action Summit 2019 as aforementioned, 2018 United Nations Climate Change Conference, TEDxStockholm ,Extinction Rebellio, COP24 summit, World Economic Forum, European Economic and Social Committee, European Parliament, Austrian World Summit R20, Prix Liberté Normandy: 2019 Freedom Prize, U.S. Congress on climate change, New York City, USA: 2019 Global Climate Strike, Montreal, Canada: 2019 Global Climate Strike. Besides, the organization has gained the credibility to have a police approval for their strikes.(“Greta Thunberg.”, 2019) This campaign is, per se, is oriented towards the users of social media, thus providing a safe space for people to express their desire for preventing the climate change and a mitigated environment for protesting.
Millions and millions of youngsters all around the globe joined approximately 5000 events associated with the Fridays for Future movement to make a change that will last for years and will ease the life of our loved offspring. (“ Fridays for Future Global Climate Strike – Live Updates : DW: 20.09.2019.”, 2019)
It was estimated that around 1.4 million people in Germany have protested in front of their chancellor to prioritize the implementation of climate change strategies.
The rhetorical appeals in Fridays for Future social movement have really succeeded in involving about 1.6 million people on average in 133 countries which adds to its credibility.(Haynes, 2019) It has taken a lot of people who are still in highschool by storm to get engaged into contemporary problem solving and raising awareness. Right now, people may go to the official Fridays for Future websiten–https://www.fridaysforfuture.org/how– and sign up for the current General Global Strike for Future and put the hashtags #FridaysforFuture or #ClimateStrike and post a video on any social media in response to current environmental issues such as wildfires in Amazon.(“Global #WeekForFuture September 20-27, 2019.”, 2019) Also, people can physically strike locally in their respective countries by contacting the appropriate affiliates by email.(“Global #WeekForFuture September 20-27, 2019.”, 2019)
Works Cited:
Deutsche Welle. “ Fridays for Future Global Climate Strike – Live Updates : DW: 20.09.2019.” DW.COM, https://www.dw.com/en/fridays-for-future-global-climate-strike-live-updates/a-50505537.
Masoud 