Thunberg's climate activism began when she persuaded her parents to adopt lifestyle choices that reduced her family's carbon footprint. In August , aged 15, Thunberg began skipping school, vowing to remain out of school until after a Swedish election to attempt to influence the outcome. She then said she would continue school striking for the climate every Friday until Sweden was in compliance with the Paris climate agreement.
After Thunberg's first school strike for the climate, other students engaged in similar protests. They united and organized the school strike for climate movement. After Thunberg addressed the United Nations Climate Change Conference , weekly climate strike protests took place on Fridays around the world. In , coordinated multi-city protests involved over a million students each.
Her admonishment made worldwide headlines. Thunberg's rise to world fame made her an ad hoc leader in the climate activist community. I was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome , OCD and selective mutism. That basically means I only speak when I think it's necessary. Now is one of those moments. Thunberg says she first heard about climate change in , when she was eight years old, and could not understand why so little was being done about it. Thunberg struggled with depression for almost four years before she began her school strike campaign.
Her father said he did not like her missing school but added: "[We] respect that she wants to make a stand. She can either sit at home and be really unhappy, or protest and be happy.
She thinks that the reason so many autistic people become climate activists is that they cannot look away, and have to tell the truth as they see it: "I know lots of people who have been depressed, and then they have joined the climate movement or Fridays for Future and have found a purpose in life and found friendship and a community that they are welcome in.
