Cambiemos el mundo (Nueva edición actualizada): #huelgaporelclima

Por Greta Thunberg

«SOY GRETA THUNBERG, TENGO QUINCE AÑOS Y HABLO EN NOMBRE DE LA JUSTICIA CLIMÁTICA. ESTE ES UN GRITO DE SOCORRO.»

El cambio climático pronto será irreversible.
Los políticos no van a reaccionar.
Tal vez tú sí.

#huelgaporelclima
Greta Thunberg es una adolescente sueca que se ha propuesto luchar contra el cambio climático y por la supervivencia del ser humano. En agosto de 2018 comenzó una huelga escolar los viernes que ahora siguen cientos de miles de estudiantes en todo el mundo.
En diciembre de 2018 fue invitada por las Naciones Unidas a hablar en la cumbre sobre el cambio climático. Poco después atravesó Europa en tren para llegar a la fría ciudad suiza de Davos, donde se alojó en una carpa, para hablar ante los líderes del mundo en el Foro Económico Mundial: «Quiero que entren en pánico -les dijo-. Quiero que actúen como si nuestra casa estuviera ardiendo. Porque así es». Hoy, Greta Thunberg es candidata al Premio Nobel de la Paz.
Esta nueva edición ampliada recoge todos sus discursos hasta hoy.
La crítica ha dicho...

«Greta habla para ella, para su generación, pero también para sus hijos y, más allá de los seres humanos, para la Tierra entera, en su preciosa y frágil belleza. Escuchémosla. Tal vez todavía estemos a tiempo.»

J. M. G. Le Clézio, Premio Nobel de Literatura
«Greta arde de autenticidad, es un puro aullido de desesperación y de incredulidad ante nuestra ceguera.»

Rosa Montero
«El manual de urgencia de los adolescentes (y de los no tan adolescentes) para la concienciación medioambiental. Rabia y ganas de cambiar las cosas alimentan un mensaje sencillo y directo.»

Elena Hevia, El Periódico
«Retrato breve e inicial de la mecha que ha prendido un levantamiento mundial.»

Cecilia de la Serna, The Objective
«Un libro que todos los adultos tendrían que leer y que consideramos casi lectura obligada para las nuevas generaciones.»
Qué Leer
«Greta Thunberg, la activista que vino del frío para frenar el calentamiento global, es la chica de moda de los medios de comunicación, la Juana de Arco del siglo XXI, la Agustina de Aragón de todo el planeta, la nueva María Pita. De vez en cuando aparece en la historia la figura de una joven sin mácula que revoluciona su entorno por su lucha sin descanso por su causa justa.»

Rosa Martí, Esquire
«La generación posmilenial tiene un nombre y una autora clave a la que seguir.»
El Ojo Crítico (RNE 1)
«Si la humanidad gana un día la batalla contra el cambio climático podrá agradecérselo a esta joven testaruda que armada con un gorro de lana y sus trenzas ha tenido éxito donde miles de científicos y militantes han fracasado.»
Le Soir
«La generación Z o post millenial tiene un nombre de mujer: Greta Thunberg, una escolar sueca de dieciséis años cuya protesta contra la inacción de los gobiernos frente al cambio climático se ha extendido como un reguero de pólvora por numerosos países.»
La Vanguardia
«Irónica, directa, a veces sarcástica: el acto solitario de sentarse frente al parlamento sueco cada viernes es algo visionario.»
The New York Times

• Idioma: Español
• Editorial: LUMEN
• Fecha de lanzamiento: 16 abr 2020
• ISBN: 9788426409423

Greta Thunberg

Greta Thunberg nació en 2003. En agosto de 2018 inició una huelga escolar en defensa del clima frente al Parlamento sueco que, desde entonces, se ha expandido por el mundo. Es activista de Fridays for Future y ha participado como conferenciante en concentraciones por el clima en todo el planeta, además de en el Foro Económico Mundial de Davos, en el Congreso de Estados Unidos y en las Naciones Unidas. Greta ha sido nombrada por Time una de las jóvenes más influyentes del mundo y es candidata al Premio Nobel de la Paz. Sus discursos están reunidos en el volumen Cambiemos el mundo (Lumen, 2019) y es autora, junto a sus padres y su hermana Beata, de Nuestra casa está ardiendo. Una familia y un planeta en crisis (Lumen, 2019). El libro del clima es su última obra.

Vista previa del libro

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Desde que, un viernes de agosto de 2018, Greta Thunberg iniciara su huelga en solitario por el clima delante del Parlamento sueco, prendiendo la mecha de un movimiento que se ha propagado por el mundo, ha tenido oportunidad de tomar la palabra en numerosas ocasiones. Este libro recoge las poderosas palabras pronunciadas en la Marcha por el Clima que tuvo lugar en Estocolmo, el 8 de septiembre de 2018; en Bruselas, el 6 de octubre de 2018, y en Helsinki, el 20 de octubre de 2018; en el Parliament Square, Londres, para la Declaración de Rebelión XR el 31 de octubre de 2018; en la conferencia TedX, en noviembre de 2018; en la reunión de YOUNGO COP24 en Katowice ante el secretario general de la ONU, el 3 de diciembre de 2018; en Davos, el 25 de enero de 2019; las que publicó en Facebook el 2 de febrero de 2019; y las que pronunció ante el Consejo Económico y Social de la Unión Europea ese mismo mes; en la ceremonia de los premios Goldene Kamera en Berlín el 30 de marzo de 2019; en el Parlamento Europeo, ante el Comité Ambiental, en Estrasburgo el 16 de abril de 2019; en el Parlamento del Reino Unido en Londres el 23 de abril de 2019; en la manifestación de Edmonton el 18 de octubre de 2019; en la huelga climática de Vancouver el 25 de octubre de 2019; en respuesta al Consejo Nórdico el 29 de octubre de 2019; en la huelga climática de Charlotte el 8 de noviembre de 2019; en la COP25 en Madrid el 11 de diciembre de 2019; en el Foro de Davos el 21 de enero de 2020; en Bruselas ante la Comisión Europea el 3 de marzo de 2020, y en el Parlamento Europeo el 4 de marzo de 2020.

La primera vez que oí hablar de algo llamado «cambio climático» o «calentamiento global» tendría unos ocho años. Era algo que, por lo visto, habíamos provocado los seres humanos con nuestro estilo de vida. Me dijeron que apagara las luces para ahorrar energía y que reciclara el papel para ahorrar recursos.

Recuerdo que pensé que era muy extraño que los seres humanos, siendo solo una especie animal más, fuésemos capaces de cambiar el clima de la Tierra. Porque si fuera así y realmente estuviera sucediendo eso, no se hablaría de otra cosa. Al encender el televisor todo giraría en torno a ello: titulares, emisoras de radio, periódicos. No leeríamos ni oiríamos hablar de otro tema. Como si hubiera una guerra mundial.

Pero nunca se hablaba de esto.

Si quemar combustibles fósiles era tan malo que amenazaba nuestra misma existencia, ¿por qué seguíamos como antes? ¿Por qué no había restricciones? ¿Por qué no los prohibían?

Para mí no tenía sentido. Era demasiado increíble.[1]

*

Y entonces, a los once años, enfermé. Caí en una depresión. Dejé de hablar. También dejé de comer. En dos meses perdí unos diez kilos.

Al poco tiempo me diagnosticaron síndrome de Asperger, Trastorno Obsesivo Compulsivo y mutismo selectivo. Esto último significa, básicamente, que solo hablo cuando lo creo necesario. Este es uno de esos momentos.

Para los que estamos en ese espectro, casi todo es blanco o negro. No se nos da muy bien mentir y no solemos sentir mucho interés por participar en el juego social que tanto parece agradar a todos los demás.

Creo que, en muchos sentidos, los autistas somos los normales y el resto de la gente es bastante extraña.

Particularmente con respecto a la crisis de sostenibilidad, en la que todos dicen y repiten que el cambio climático es una amenaza existencial y el problema más grave al que nos enfrentamos, y, sin embargo, siguen haciéndolo todo como antes.

No lo entiendo. Porque si las emisiones tienen que parar, entonces debemos pararlas. Esto es blanco o negro. No hay grises cuando se trata de sobrevivir. O continuamos existiendo como civilización o no. Tenemos que cambiar.

Es necesario que países como Suecia empiecen a reducir sus emisiones un 15 por ciento como mínimo cada año. Esto nos permitiría mantener el aumento de la temperatura por debajo de los 2 ºC. Sin embargo, como ha demostrado no hace mucho el Grupo Intergubernamental de Expertos en Cambio Climático (IPCC), aspirar no a esos 2 ºC sino a 1,5 ºC reduciría considerablemente el impacto climático; pero es fácil imaginar lo que implica semejante reducción de las emisiones. Sería lógico esperar que todos nuestros dirigentes y los medios de comunicación no hablaran de otra cosa, pero ni siquiera lo mencionan. Tampoco se mencionan los gases de efecto invernadero que ya están atrapados en la atmósfera ni que la contaminación del aire está ocultando el calentamiento, así que cuando dejemos de quemar combustibles fósiles, el calentamiento ya habrá aumentado aún más, quizá incluso entre 0,5 y 1,1 ºC.

Tampoco se habla apenas de que estamos inmersos en la sexta extinción masiva y que hasta doscientas especies se extinguen a diario. Ni de que a día de hoy el índice de extinción natural es entre mil y diez mil veces más alto de lo que se considera normal.

Por otra parte, nunca se habla del principio de equidad o justicia climática, claramente expuesto en el Acuerdo de París, algo absolutamente necesario para que este funcione a escala mundial.

Comentarios para Cambiemos el mundo (Nueva edición actualizada)

[murderbydeath · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

Greta Thunberg is the bomb.

I first heard about Greta when she began school striking last year, but only, at first, as a curiosity (on the part of the press). It wasn't until her speech before the UK parliament that she got enough press that I was able to understand her story. When I read the speech in the Guardian, I was laughing - in the best way - at the sheer audacity, bravery, and brilliance, of a 16 year old standing before the august (HA!) body of British lawmakers and telling them that:

The UK is, however, very special. Not only for its mind-blowing historical carbon debt, but also for its current, very creative, carbon accounting.

and:

This ongoing irresponsible behaviour will no doubt be remembered in history as one of the greatest failures of mankind.

and my favorite:

Did you just hear what I said? Is my English okay? Is the microphone on? Because I'm beginning to wonder.

I handed the speech to MT and said You HAVE TO read this. It's written by a 16 year old Swedish girl whose first language isn't even English! (We who have lived our lives isolated on single language land masses - and yes, yes, Spanish, but it wasn't widespread when I was a kid - are always in awe of those of you who juggle multiple languages with ease, never mind speak it better than us natives.) I've been a following her in the news ever since and I just admire the hell out of her. I found this little collection of all her speeches up to and including her UK Parliament speech, on the bookstore counter, and snapped it up.

It's nothing fancy; just a small booklet containing all 11 of her speeches through 23 April 2019, and if read cover to cover (which I don't recommend), it's repetitive. But the message is powerful, and like it or not, it's dead-on accurate: our house is on fire; what we would never do to our own lawn, we're doing with impunity to the rest of the planet, and we're collectively living like a magic, 23rd-hour solution that will make everything ok again is going to miraculously fly out our asses.

Greta is making waves because she's 16 and she's the only one willing to stand in front of entire governments and actually say, with only a tiny bit more tact: you're all idiots and you're the generation that will always be known as those idiots who destroyed civilisation as we know it.

On a more first-world-problem note: this wonderful 16 year old was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize and even though she didn't win (and should have), I am still thankful I'm not a teen today. Life is hard enough as an adolescent, but now teens are nominated for Nobels; getting into Yale or Oxford suddenly isn't the acme of teen achievement any more. Yikes.

[darthdeverell · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

Greta Thunberg’s No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference collects her various speeches in a single volume for those looking to learn from her example in tackling the challenge of climate change, the greatest threat to humanity’s future. Thunberg was initially inspired by the activism of the Parkland students (pg. 46), though she now represents one facet of a global movement. In a 2018 speech in Stockholm, Thunberg said, “If people knew that the scientists say that we have a 5 per cent chance of meeting the Paris target, and if people knew what a nightmare scenario we will face if we don’t keep global warming below 2ºC, they wouldn’t need to ask me why I’m on school strike outside parliament” (pgs. 9-10). She challenged wealthy nations and businesses in her speech at COP 24 in 2018, saying, “We are about to sacrifice our civilization for the opportunity of a very small number of people to continue to make enormous amounts of money” (pg. 29). Thunberg warned the European Parliament in 2019, “Everything and everyone has to change. But the bigger your platform, the bigger your responsibility. The bigger your carbon footprint, the bigger your moral duty” (pg. 73). Addressing the British Parliament in 2019, Thunberg said, “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 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” (pg. 82). Speaking to the Austrian World Summit in 2019, she said, “The longer we wait the harder it will be to turn this around” (pg. 100). Thunberg addressed the French National Assembly in 2019, saying, “Now political leaders in some countries are starting to talk. They are starting to declare climate emergencies and announcing dates for so-called ‘climate neutrality’. And declaring a climate emergency is good. But only setting up these vague distant dates, and saying things which give the impression that things are being done and that action is under way will most likely do more harm than good. …The climate and ecological emergency is right here, right now. But it has only just begun. It will get worse” (pg. 109). No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference is a great collection of Thunberg’s speeches, particularly useful for students looking to study her work and movement. It is a must-read in particular for any world leaders who genuinely want to make a difference, but Thunberg herself addresses the skepticism people feel about those who have had the power to act these last thirty years.

[missbrangwen · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

This very slim volume contains eleven speeches held by Greta Thunberg between September 2018 and April 2019. There is an extended version available that contains more speeches from 2019, but this is the first version.
While I agree with most of Thunberg's positions, I am still a bit disappointed with the book. As many other reviewers have noted, the speeches are very repetitive. Most of them are so alike that it's hard to distinguish them, sometimes whole sentences and even paragraphs are copied, and the arguments made are repeated again and again.
Of course, this is because these are Thunberg's main points, and as said above, I mostly agree with them. I just don't think that this merits a book. If you watch a few of the speeches online, or even just read a few online posts, you will get the same amount of information.
On the other hand, Thunberg's message is of the uttermost importance and while the language of the speeches is very simple (and thus, after several of them, gets a bit uniform), this serves the purpose of getting that message across in a poignant way. I also learned from the book that equity is relevant to Thunberg, too, which is something I didn't know before (I thought that this aspect wasn't really cared about by the Fridays For Future activists, which had put me off a little).
All in all, this was a quick read and I absolutely don't criticize Greta Thunberg as an activist, but I still think there must be other books that teach the reader more about the topic.

[bibliothecarivs · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

I agree with Greta, and her direct and factual style can easily pierce one's heart, but this small collection of her speeches was published too early in her career. Read one of her speeches and you've read them all. Also, maybe it's just the librarian in me but endnotes with citations would help bolster her claims in print.

[sarah220-732610 · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

This is a collection of Ms. Thunberg's speeches over the last couple years. Good, thoughtful stuff that we need to know and at times powerfully phrased. However, because it is made up of several speeches delivered to different groups, many of the speeches repeat what she had already said (what I already read). Watching one YouTube video of her speaking might have been just as or more rewarding.

[askelmore · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

Best for:
Those who like to collect books of speeches.

In a nutshell:
Collection of Thunberg’s speeches, delivered throughout 2018 and 2019

Worth quoting:
“You can’t simply make up your own facts, just because you don’t like what you hear.”
“Every time we make a decision we should ask ourselves: how will this decision affect that [emission] curve?”

Why I chose it:
I recently subscribed to the Books That Matter box, and this was included in November’s delivery.

Review:
How does one review a collection of speeches by a child? It seems … odd to do so. Instead, I want to talk about what I read in these speeches, and the overall issue of climate change and activism. However, I will say that these speeches are nearly identical in content, and are basically understandably angry and frustrated calls to action.

Action that isn’t happening.

Thunberg talks a lot about how she does not like hearing from adults and politicians that people like her give them hope. And she’s right - it’s absurd to look to children to fix things we as adults have broken, to look for them for hope, when there are people in power nodding along to her speeches who could actually, y’know, do something. At the same time, it’s really impressive how so many younger people aren’t waiting until they’re older to speak up about the things that matter to them.

And also … I’m old enough to be Thunberg’s mother, and I don’t have any more of a clue how to fix things, nor do I find myself in a position of power. Shit, I just voted in an election where 70 million people thought it’d be cool to keep a racist bigot sexual assaulting asshole in office, and where one elderly turtle can hold up economic assistance for 350 million people. How DOES someone make a difference in these systems?

Climate change is one of those issues where on an individual level there are obviously loads of things we can do (not eat meat, not consume dairy, not take flights, etc.), but corporations continue to produce the carbon on such a massive scale. There’s obviously a need for collective action - and Thunberg’s school strike has turned into something like that - but I also think it’s hard when what some people see as the biggest emergency of our life time is competing with other emergencies that might seem more immediate to a lot of people.

Like I said. Frustrating.

Keep it / Pass to a Friend / Donate it / Toss it:
Donate it

[arewenotben · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

Not sure this short, somewhat repetitive book is the best way to consume her rhetoric but it doesn't stop Thunberg being an absolute badass. At its best when she's being extremely rude to her condescending elite hosts in rarified surroundings.

[ravennight-2 · Calificación: 2 de 5 estrellas]

I want to start this review by saying that my opinion of this book has nothing to do with my agreement or disagreement with the issues discussed. While I am all for protecting our environment and making the changes necessary, this belief did not make me like this little paperback collection of speeches. It also does not reflect my opinions on Greta herself.

My first issue with this book was the complete lack of sources. I realize that this is a collection of speeches, however, they are of a scientific nature and are being published as a book... in print. I think that with the publishing of the speeches as a book, citations needed to be added. Without them, it is hard to view things as credible facts. Even as speeches, anything presented as a fact really should come with a reference to where it was found. Her more recent speeches are better about this, as she often says where the information is from before she states a number. However, her earlier speeches are severely lacking in source material. This book is being marketed as non-fiction and science. As such, I was shocked by the lack of sources.

A few examples:
"...a number of leading climate scientists wrote that we have at most three years to reverse growth in greenhouse gases..." Who are these scientists? Where did this information come from? To not be 100% specific in a speech is one thing, but the sourcing should have been considered when making a book.
"If people knew that the scientists say that we have a 5 percent chance..." Again, which scientists? It is hard for me to believe information to be credible when a very specific number is thrown out with a vague reference to an unspecified group of scientists.

And these two examples are just on the first page. There are many facts thrown out with no real source. This may not bother some people, as it is a collection of speeches. But to me, it makes sense that someone who decides to publish a collection of their speeches (ones that are marketed as non fiction and science, and have numbers and facts loaded into them, I mean) and distribute it as a book would add sources to said book. Why did I have to search the data being presented as fact and
do a LOT of fact-checking while reading a book that is being marketed as nonfiction?

Another glaring issue with this is how hypocritical some of it is. She condemns activists who travel great distances because they are using valuable resources to travel. However, in a later speech, she lists off all of the different forms of traveling she has to do. To me, this seems hypocritical. Why condemn others for the thing you do?

"Wherever I Go I Seem to Be Surrounded By Fairy Tales" is one of the last speeches included in this book and it left me a little confused. On page 89, she states "...a 50 per cent chance of staying below a 1.5 degree C global temperature rise." However, page 92 (same speech) says "...to have a 67 per cent chance of staying below a 1.5 degree C global temperature rise.... Which is it? She gives the same date: 1 January 2018. She also gives the same amount of CO2 emissions left: 420 gigatonnes. So which percentage is it? This difference in numbers within the same speech, without any source listed, makes it hard to find the information credible.

As excited as I was to read this, and as much as I wanted to love it, it just didn't rub me the right way.

[atreic · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

This is a book collating all of Greta Thunberg's speeches. This makes it a) quite depressing, as her speeches are 'if we don't all start panicking, the world is doomed because of climate change' and b) quite repetitive, as pretty much all her speeches are 'if we don't all start panicking, the world is doomed because of climate change', often with the same paragraphs lifted and dropped from earlier speeches.

But it's powerful rhetoric, and probably a good wake up call. I read half of it, and was feeling very worried and Something Must Be Done, and then put it down for a couple of months. Then I found it when tidying up because there was nothing else to do because of the COVID pandemic, which makes it harder to worry about climate change right now...

[donnamariemerritt · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

It's unthinkable that our children have to be the voices that get us to take notice of climate change and the CRISIS that it is. These speeches of Greta Thunberg's shout at us to listen—and for good reason.

[infjsarah · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

A pocketbook sized short book of speeches made by climate protestor Greta Thunberg. There is some repetition as they are speeches she has made in different places. She's right of course, we should be panicking but we're not and despite the title of the book I think most people just find the whole thing overwhelming and too big to handle. Plus we have a culture and economy tangled together with carbon energy and how do we untangle it in such a short time? The biggie for me is home heating - there is no good and effective alternative to gas heating for our old, draughty Victorian/Edwardian houses in cold, windy Britain.