{"id":10688,"date":"2018-12-23T11:33:07","date_gmt":"2018-12-23T19:33:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=10688"},"modified":"2018-12-23T11:33:07","modified_gmt":"2018-12-23T19:33:07","slug":"depressed-and-then-diagnosed-with-autism-greta-thunberg-explains-why-hope-cannot-save-planet-but-bold-climate-action-still-can","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2018\/12\/23\/depressed-and-then-diagnosed-with-autism-greta-thunberg-explains-why-hope-cannot-save-planet-but-bold-climate-action-still-can\/","title":{"rendered":"Depressed and Then Diagnosed With Autism, Greta Thunberg Explains Why Hope Cannot Save Planet But Bold Climate Action Still Can"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"field-wrapper-attribution\" class=\"field-wrapper content-container clearfix inline-fields\">\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-article-date field--type-datestamp field--label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field__items\">\n<div class=\"field__item even\"><span class=\"pb-timestamp\"><span class=\"date-display-single\">December 19, 2018\u00a0<\/span><\/span>by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Common Dreams<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-subtitle field--type-text-long field--label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field__items\">\n<div class=\"field__item even\">\n<div>\n<h4>&#8220;We do need hope\u2014of course, we do. But the one thing we need more than hope is action. Once we start to act, hope is everywhere.&#8221;<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"field-wrapper-authors\" class=\"field-wrapper content-container clearfix inline-fields\">\n<div class=\"grouping-prefix\">by\u00a0<span class=\"pb-byline\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/author\/jon-queally-staff-writer\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jon Queally, staff writer<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"shr_canvas2\" class=\"shareaholic-canvas shareaholic-ui shareaholic-resolved-canvas ng-scope\" data-app-id=\"6840204\" data-app-id-name=\"headline_above_content\" data-app=\"share_buttons\" data-title=\"Depressed and Then Diagnosed With Autism, Greta Thunberg Explains Why Hope Cannot Save Planet But Bold Climate Action Still Can\" data-link=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/2018\/12\/19\/depressed-and-then-diagnosed-autism-greta-thunberg-explains-why-hope-cannot-save\" data-summary=\"\">\n<div class=\"ng-scope shareaholic-share_buttons\" translate=\"no\">\n<div class=\"shareaholic-share-buttons-container shareaholic-ui shareaholic-no-print shareaholic-flat shareaholic- shareaholic-block shareaholic-horizontal  shareaholic-mini\">\n<div class=\"shareaholic-share-buttons-wrapper shareaholic-ui\">\n<div class=\"shareaholic-share-buttons-animation-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"shareaholic-share-buttons-heading shareaholic-custom\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"discourse-comments-link\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-article-img field--type-image field--label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field__items\">\n<div class=\"field__item even\">\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"caption-processed\" src=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/cd_large\/public\/headlines\/screen_shot_2018-12-19_at_8.44.36_am.png?itok=egmfaINh\" alt=\"\" width=\"955\" height=\"500\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-main-caption field--type-text-long field--label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field__items\">\n<div class=\"field__item even\">\n<p><em>15-year-old Greta Thunberg of Sweden realized at a young age the enormous gap between what climate experts were warning and the actions society was taking. The difference was so drastic in her opinion that she decided to take matters into her own hands. (Photo: Youtube\/Screenshot\/TEDxStockholm)<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field__items\">\n<div class=\"field__item even\">\n<div>\n<p>As youth climate campaigners in the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SaneEnergy\/status\/1074460536157466625\">U.S. city of Brooklyn on Wednesday plan to continue a climate strike<\/a>\u00a0at least partly inspired by the ongoing vigil begun by 15-year-old Greta Thunberg in Sweden earlier this year, a new TEDx Talk released this week reveals that what inspired the Swedish teenager to take action was as simple as it was profound: she fell into sadness as she saw the leaders of the world\u2014even those who admitted human-caused global warming was an &#8220;existential crisis&#8221;\u2014continue to act and make policy decisions as though no emergency existed.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"pullquote\">&#8220;I think in many ways we autistic are the normal ones and the rest of the people are pretty strange\u2014especially when it comes to the sustainability crisis.&#8221; \u2014Greta Thunberg<\/span>Everyone keeps saying, Thunberg declares in the 11-minute talk, that climate &#8220;is the most important issue of all, and yet they just carry on as before. I don&#8217;t understand that. Because if the emissions have to stop, then we must stop the emissions. To me that is black or white. There are no gray areas when it comes to survival. Either we go on as a civilization or we don&#8217;t. We have to change.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>As a key part of the talk, Thunberg describes how at the age of eleven, several years after learning about the concept of climate change for the first time, she fell into a depression and became ill. &#8220;I stopped talking. I stopped eating,&#8221; she explains. &#8220;In two months, I lost about ten kilos of weight. Later on I was diagnosed with Asperger&#8217;s Syndrome, OCD, and selective mutism\u2014that basically means I only speak when I think it&#8217;s necessary.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>After a short pause, she adds, &#8220;Now is one of those moments.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Watch the full talk:<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/EAmmUIEsN9A\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;For those of us on the spectrum,&#8221; Thunberg explains to the audience, &#8220;almost everything is black or white. We aren&#8217;t very good at lying and we usually don&#8217;t enjoy participating in the social game as the rest of you seem so fond of. I think in many ways we autistic are the normal ones and the rest of the people are pretty strange\u2014especially when it comes to the sustainability crisis.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Towards the conclusion of her talk, Thunberg says that &#8220;this is when people usually start talking about hope\u2014solar panels, wind power, circular economy, and so on\u2014but I&#8217;m not going to do that.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>And continues, &#8220;We&#8217;ve had thirty years of pep-talking and selling positive ideas. And I&#8217;m sorry, but it doesn&#8217;t work. Because if it would have, the emissions would have gone down by now\u2014they haven&#8217;t.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Finally, she says: &#8220;Yes, we do need hope\u2014of course, we do. But the one thing we need more than hope is action. Once we start to act, hope is everywhere.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"field-wrapper-copyright-cond\" class=\"field-wrapper content-container clearfix\">\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-copyright field--type-text field--label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field__items\">\n<div class=\"field__item even\"><em>This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>December 19, 2018\u00a0by Common Dreams &#8220;We do need hope\u2014of course, we do. But the one thing we need more than hope is action. Once we start to act, hope is everywhere.&#8221; by\u00a0Jon Queally, staff writer 15-year-old Greta Thunberg of Sweden realized at a young age the enormous gap between what&#8230; <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2018\/12\/23\/depressed-and-then-diagnosed-with-autism-greta-thunberg-explains-why-hope-cannot-save-planet-but-bold-climate-action-still-can\/\"> Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr; <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10688"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10688"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10688\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10689,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10688\/revisions\/10689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}