Our earth is million years old and humans have inhabited it for a long time now. Our earth and environment has gone through numerous changes due to certain human activities. Climate variability and change is a result of irrational human activities. Climate change refers to the changes in earth’s climate system. It results in change in  weather patterns. Climate change has happened since the industrial revolution and has given birth to global warming as well. The anti-climate change movement is on a high rise now-a-days. Young people around the globe have come forward to change the system and fight climate change. Some of the anti-climate change activists are: Autumn Peltier, Leah Namugerwa, Ridhima Pandey, Xiye Bastida, Isra Hisri, Greta Thunberg, etc. In this article, we will elaborate the differences between Xiye Bastida, Naomi Klein, Greta Thunberg.

Xiye Bastida

Xiye Bastida is a Mexican-Chilean climate activist. She is a member of Mexican Otomi-Toltec nation. Fridays for Future is an initiative organized by Xiye and others to give voice to climate activism in New York City.

Naomi Klein

Naomi Klein is a Canadian author, social activist and filmmaker. She is famous for her political analysis and criticism of corporate globalization. She is currently serving on the Gloria Steinem Chair in Media, Culture and Feminist Studies at Rutgers University.

Greta Thunberg

Greta Tintin Eleonora Ernman Thunberg is a Swedish environmental activist. She is famous for giving the view that humanity is in deep existential crisis arising from climate change. She is known for her straightforward speaking manner with public and political leaders alike. In her speeches and assemblies, she has criticized the world leaders for not taking enough action to address the climate crisis.

Xiye Bastida Vs Naomi Klein Vs Greta Thunberg

Date of birth and nationality

Xiye Bastida was born in 2002 in Toluca, Mexico. She is 18 years old Mexican Chilean girl. Her hometown is San Pedro Tultepec, Lerma.

 Naomi Klein was born on 8 May 1970 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. She is 49 years old Canadian.

Greta Thunberg was born on 3 January 2003 in Stockholm, Sweden. She is 17 years old Swedish girl.

Parents

Xiye Bastida’s parents are Mindahi and Geraldine. They are also environmentalists.

Greta Thunberg’s mother’s name is Malena Ernman. Her grandfather is Olof Thunberg.

Precursor of the movement

Xiye started her anti-climate change activism by joining an environmental club. The club protested at Albany and New York City Hall. It protested for CLCPA-the Climate and Community Leaders Protection Act and the Dirty Buildings Bill.

Before turning into being an environmentalist, Naomi Klein wrote books and made films. Her concern was globalization and its negative impacts. She wrote the books No Logo, Fences and Windows, The Shock Doctrine and directed a documentary The Take.

Greta Thunberg’s activism started when she urged her parents to make certain lifestyle choices to reduce their carbon footprint on the planet. At the age of 15, Greta started spending her school days outside the Swedish parliament to protest for a stronger action on climate change. She had a sign that said-“School Strike for Climate”.

Movement

Xiye Bastida is famous for ‘School Strike for climate’ or ‘Fridays for Future’. It is an international movement of school students who come together on Fridays to demand action from political leaders to take actions against climate change. It urges the fossil fuel industry to transit to a renewable source of energy; so that the people emit less pollutants and world can be saved. Xiye started this movement because of political inaction against global warming.  The movement has 2 million followers by 2019. It is seen in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, Germany, Colombia, New Zealand, Uganda, Finland, Denmark, Japan, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Naomi Klein is an environmentalist. Her focus is on climate change. This is the basic thought that she presented in her 2014 book This Changes Everything: Capitalism versus the Climate Change. Naomi is a part of 350.org and participated in their “Do the Math” tour that encouraged a divestment movement. She is of the view that financial and climate crisis have the same root- unrestricted corporate greed. She gave a speech at Occupy Wall Street regarding the depleting natural resources. In 2009, Klein attended the Copenhagen Climate Summit. She described her own country Canada as a ‘climate criminal’. In a bold step, Klein called for an international campaign to impose economic sanctions on the United States if Donald Trump‘s administration refuses to abide by the terms of Paris agreement.

Greta Thunberg joined the School Strike for Climate movement in 2018. She collaborated with other students protesting in the same way and organised a movement with the name Fridays for Future. Greta sailed to North America to attend the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit. In exclaimed “how dare you” in her speech. This was taken up by the press and used in music also. She became a leader and critics also started targeting her. Her influence on the world has been described as the ‘Greta’ effect by The Guardian.

Notable works

Naomi Klein is a non-fiction author. Her notable works are: This Changes Everything: Capitalism versus the Climate, No Logo, The Shock Doctrine, The Take, etc.

Greta Thunberg wrote the book Scenes from the Heart in 2018 with her mother, father and sister. Her collection of speeches on climate change is named as No One Is Too Small To Make A Difference.

Awards and honours

 Xiye Bastida was awarded “The Spirit of the UN” award for giving a speech on Indigenous Cosmology at the 9th United Nations World Urban Forum.

Naomi Klein won the National book Award for Nonfiction in 2017 and Sydney Peace Prize in 2016. University of Amsterdam and Saint Thomas University have given an honorary doctorate to her.

Greta Thunberg has won numerous awards. Some of them are: Fritt Ord Award, Ambassador of Conscience Award, Rachel Carson Prize, International Children’s Peace Prize, Right Livelihood Award. She was Time Person of the Year in 2019. She is included in the Forbes list of The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women in 2019. Additionally, she has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for 2019 and 2020 consecutively.

Conclusion

People, especially youth, are joining together to demand a greater action on climate change. They are leaving their education and jobs to urge the government for an action and are refusing to settle for anything else but a solution. Let’s join hands with them and make this planet a better place to live. What do you say?