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