Eco Winners: Uncovering the Traits of Successful Environmental Leaders

By Katya Pronichenko

Did you know that going one year without eating beef can save up to 3,432 trees per year? Do you want to become more sustainable and a leader in the environmental field?

Eco Winners: Uncovering the Traits of Successful Environmental Leaders recognizes the leaders of some of the most successful environmental movements of our day and

• Language: English
• Publisher: New Degree Press
• Release date: Apr 11, 2020
• ISBN: 9781641375221

Book preview

1

Eco-History

CHAPTER 1

A Young and Restless Climate

You are never too small to make a difference.

—Greta Thunberg

In March 2019, Greta Thunberg, a sixteen-year-old Swedish student, was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for founding the Youth Strike for Climate movement.¹ Thunberg first found out about climate change from her parents when she was just eight years old. Even at such a young age, she recalls feeling disillusioned with the state of the Earth and government inaction. At the age of eleven, Thunberg fell into depression and became mute. Later, she was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome and selective mutism, a condition that allowed her to speak only when absolutely necessary. Thunberg says that she feels like she is dying if she does not protest.²

Her undying commitment compelled her to take action. Thunberg began her global environmental movement by skipping school to protest. In August 2018, at the age of fifteen, Thunberg spent her days outside of the Swedish Parliament holding a sign that read "Skolstrejk för Klimatet," meaning School Strike for the Climate. Day after day, Thunberg would come back to strike, gaining the support of other activists. Soon enough, the media started to take notice and her movement grew in size and popularity as other students joined her in protest.

After a month of consistent protesting, Thunberg’s strikes developed into a national movement for students to advocate for climate reform. In November 2018, she organized the national Swedish climate strike in which thousands of students marched, demanding environmental legislation from local and federal governments. As news spread, students all over the world were inspired to strike, snowballing into an international movement with strikes in over seventy-two countries.³ These strikes continued to grow, and in March of the following year, Greta led the next global climate strike with 1.4 million students from 112 countries joining the movement.⁴

In the sixteen months since Thunberg first started her advocacy, she has addressed heads of state at the United Nations,⁵ met with the Pope, sparred with President Donald Trump, and inspired the largest global climate strike demonstration in human history. She has been celebrated in murals and books and compared to Joan of Arc.⁶

A yellow sign on a rainy dayDescription automatically generated

Thunberg striking in front of the Swedish parliament⁷

Uncovering Thunberg’s Movement: Mindset

When I first read Thunberg’s story, I was blown away. Was one girl powerful enough to create a global movement? How did she do it? I decided to uncover the traits of advocates like Thunberg so I could learn how to effectively change the world.

One of the first things that propelled Thunberg’s advocacy was her unique way of understanding the Earth’s existing conditions. Partly because of the uncommon perspective afforded to her by her medical conditions, she felt the threat of climate change more strongly than the average person. To her, climate change and government inaction is a tragedy that needs to be addressed. For her, there was nothing more important than mitigating further climate change.

This type of black and white activism, in which one sees their goals in extremes, usually takes different forms in activists. After my cancer diagnosis, I saw my own ideals become more extreme. I recognized that I had adopted a clearer, more dedicated stance toward protecting the Earth. My diagnosis made me see what limited time we have left and reminded me to stop putting off my goals and act.

Thunberg also kept a mindset of hope. Instead of getting discouraged by the realities of climate change, she remained optimistic in her efforts to protect the planet. This hope is what kept her activism alive. Even in the midst of disillusionment, eco-winners remain hopeful and confident in their efforts, finding the balance between understanding Earth’s problems and being inspired to be part of the solution. At present, many people are experiencing cognitive dissonance, feeling like the world does not fit together anymore. This ideology only disheartens and prevents youth from realizing their own potential to make change.

I see this mindset in many people, including myself. Before I starting volunteering, I thought that with increasing time and energy spent on advocacy, people would have less faith in their ability to disrupt the system and make a difference.

However, the more I volunteered, the more I met people who inspired me with their work and efforts. With these new relationships, I felt more hopeful for the future because I knew that people like me were fighting for the same goal. These people became my resources, people I looked up to and supported. As one of my friends from the Sierra Club mentioned, It is both about what you are doing and about what you can do. Humans took over the world, something that seemed almost impossible; advances that were unthinkable tens of years ago are now possible. The world is full of possibility. We have the resources and solutions; we just have to use them to go make our impact.

Greta Thunberg is an eco-winner. She consistently advocates for change, and even when she was starting out and striking alone, she had no fear in mind that her efforts were useless or would go unheard. Instead, she led by example. Her firm beliefs and consistent activism inspires others and continues to lead activists to become a considerable force to be reckoned with. The four main traits that make Thunberg a powerful eco-winner are her commitment, consistency, confidence, and creativity.

Commitment

Without her commitment, Thunberg’s extreme views would have never manifested as action. She saw the environmental climate crisis as an emergency that needs to be fixed right away, but without her commitment to fix this goal, Thunberg would not have gotten the results of a global climate strike movement. What made Thunberg so successful is that she acted on the issue without hesitation and saw her goals through to the end, no matter thesetbacks.

Consistency

We must not wait for others, whether it is governments or companies, to act for the environment; instead, we should act at our own level and inspire others. Thunberg embodies this concept. She consistently showed up to strike day after day, even when she stood alone. Even now, Thunberg continues to strike every Friday, inspiring thousands of students worldwide to do the same. Being consistent means upholding your beliefs—doing what you can to be environmentally friendly in other aspects of your life and constantly educating yourself. Thunberg’s sustainable vision is evident in every aspect of her life. In addition to her climate movement, she is vegan and has inspired her friends and family to do the same. Thunberg showcases how being consistent in all areas of your life amplifies your impact to make a bigdifference.

Confidence

If Thunberg had no confidence, the climate strike movement would have died long ago. Instead of giving up, she believed in the power of the individual. At fifteen years of age, she was sure of her goal and did not back down, believing that if adults were not doing enough, she would. We see this trait of confidence in practically every successful leader, whether it is Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Cesar Chavez, or Dolores Huerta, Thunberg makes me question my own belief in the individual: Would I have had the confidence to strike alone? Would I still believe in my movement if it did not bring immediatechange?

Creativity in Problem Solving

Thunberg created a movement that was influenced solely by students and people her own age, magnifying the voices of young people. Not only does this show that activists can possess a considerable political power, but it shows how important it is to creatively use the resources at your disposal to exert the maximum influence.

The student climate strike movement became so powerful because Thunberg did not back down, and when other like-minded students were inspired to join, they created an even greater momentum. My mom always tells me People can see everything, and I think this is true. When Thunberg silently stood for her beliefs, a like-minded community acknowledged and made something of it. Without those that supported Thunberg’s vision, this global movement would have never been realized. In one of her speeches, Thunberg explains that solving the environmental crisis is going to be one of the hardest issues we have ever faced, but with the combined effort of activists, we can take on anything.⁸

In 2019, Thunberg sailed from Sweden to New York to speak at the UN Climate Action Summit, which hosted representatives from 192 nation-states and aimed to promote further global environmental governance. There, Thunberg conveyed the message, We will be watching you. She was speaking for the new generation of students and the future generation of eco-winners.

She addressed the reality that climate change, pollution, the collapse of ecosystems, and mass extinction will soon be irreversible if countries and individuals do not act on these problems now. Thunberg called government representatives to action, reminding leaders that the younger generation will hold them accountable for any climate pledges they make.⁹ As a result of the Climate Action Summit, seventy-seven countries committed to cutting greenhouse gases to net zero by 2050, and seventy countries announced that they will boost their national action plans by 2020.¹⁰

TAKEAWAYS

The fact that Thunberg, a teenager, has already influenced global environmental governance is incredibly inspiring. From her advocacy on the streets of Stockholm, to her leadership in international climate strikes and her spokesmanship at summits, Thunberg’s influence can be felt worldwide. She is a constant reminder that we can maximize our individual power to all become eco-winners in our own