Be brave

i’m not going to tell you anything that

you haven’t heard before

maybe because you’ve heard everything

that i could possibly tell you

or maybe because it’s so important that

we repeat the same message

over and over again until it gets

through to all of us i was thinking

about what i’d like to say today and i

was reading on ted’s home page

ted id’s worth spreading

it didn’t say new ideas worth spreading

and then i came to think of something

that i read about repetition

that repetition is how people learn

repetition it builds paths in our brain

and once we’ve been down that same path

a few times

we find a place quicker next time

well we know all this right but then i

wonder

how is it possible to talk this much

about climate risks and tipping points

and nature breakdown and heat waves and

flood and

do so little

this is a countdown to cop 26 where all

countries

should deliver new and strengthened

goals that show the way to 2030 and 50

emission cut i’m now going to do

what i suppose is not what i’m supposed

to do

because i don’t want to talk about 2030.

i want to talk about 2050.

now you might think slow down let’s take

one step at a time and focus on the next

decade

but what worries me even more than how

far away we are from reaching the 20 30

goals

are the following decades i am worried

that we do the easy cuts now the ones

that don’t hurt so much

the ones that don’t require the same

political and popular will

the ones that we can pay our way out of

and then when we stand in 2030

and take a look at the 2050 goals

our job will be twice as hard

my country is an oil country we export

oil and gas for billions upon billions

of dollars

every year we export climate change mass

extinction nature breakdown

and norway does not intend to stop doing

that in the near future

two years ago our prime minister said

that

the person who will witness the end of

norwegian oil and gas production

is yet to be born and we spend billions

searching for new oil

while we know that the world has found a

lot more fossil fuels

than we can burn an easy cut for norway

would be to get more people to buy

electric cars

or to pay someone else so that they do

the cuts instead

a hard one would be to stop with oil and

gas production

we do need a 2030 countdown because we

have to follow up on our goals

we have to commit it has to be easy for

civil society to hold politicians and

companies accountable for that

but because it’s not enough to cut the

emissions in half

we have to look beyond 2030 all the time

we have to make the hard choices now

that’s why i ask everyone

to do more do more than what you’re

obliged to do

and make that the minimum standard be

brave

dare to make decisions that maybe

will make you a bit unpopular with a

grown-up gang

because remember that there’s a whole

generation here

who got your back who’s counting on you

in march one week after norway shut down

i was furious the schools were closed

all happenings were cancelled we

couldn’t meet our friends

but i wasn’t angry about all that

the great majority thought that the

government was doing a great job

and and we started helping each other

and showing more empathy than i thought

was possible

i wasn’t angry about the restrictions i

was angry

because it proved to me more clearly

than ever before

that it’s possible we can get our hands

out of our pockets and pass

laws that allow us to change everything

of course not every country

reacted in the same way but enough to

prove that it’s possible

we can admit that some things just have

to be done for the greater good

and right now i do my share and i

contribute and i just kept

wondering why why can’t you do that for

me or for your own children

why won’t you do it for my generation or

my children’s generation or the one

after that

why do you keep telling me that it’s

impossible to do such big changes in

such

short time that we have to wait for

another plan

that will come another year that will

look at the possibilities to do

something someday

this summer i jumped from a cliff

i had to fall 16 meters before i hit the

water

i’ve never jumped from anything taller

than five meters before and barely that

but now after i made that high jump

all the other germs they seem so much

easier because i know that i can do it

when kobe 19 shut down our societies we

jumped

many governments made bold actions to

prevent the virus from spreading

we stayed home did the tests avoided

public transport

and we did all that with a mentality

that even though we were not in a risk

group

our beloved ones were or some strangers

were

and then we changed our lives and our

politics

that day when i jumped from the cliff i

don’t think i actually thought that i

would do it

it was more a cool thing to suggest and

i told my friends that i’d do it and

when we got there they followed me to

the cliff

and and they stood around me and and

looked at me

and i had presented this cool version of

myself that maybe wasn’t a hundred

percent true

but there i was and there they were

so i jumped i don’t believe

that all the ceos and and politicians

and adults in general who’ve made goals

and promises

actually think that they will fulfill

them in the end

but they can if they get that little or

gigantic push that’s why i want everyone

to remember

again there’s a whole generation here

watching you

expecting you to keep your promises and

to

do better than what you think you can do

now i’ve spent my minutes saying nothing

new but

every word has been something i want you

to remember

i’ve just repeated what i’ve tried to

tell the adult generation for the past

seven years as a climate activist

you have to do more you have to do

not what’s easy but what’s necessary you

have to be brave

dare to jump because we can

because we have to and because you’ve

promised

thank you