Greta Thunberg on the "gift" of Asperger's in fighting climate change: "We need people who think …

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: In this morning's Eye on Earth, 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg joins us for her first live U.S. television interview. The teenager made headlines last year with her solitary strike against climate change outside Sweden's parliament. She's inspired millions of supporters to rally in more than 150 countries. Greta recently sailed across the Atlantic Ocean in a zero-admissions yacht. She landed here in New York, where she'll be speaking at the UN's Climate Action Summit later this month, and Greta joins us at the [00:00:31] Speaker 2: table. Greta, good morning. Good morning. Glad you made it on the boat. Glad you made it. Your message [00:00:37] Speaker 1: for world leaders is that it's time to panic, and you want them to panic. What do you hope [00:00:42] Greta: happens next? I mean, of course, by panic, I don't mean literally panic, but that we, and that especially they, step out of their comfort zone, because the planet is outside its comfort zone, and we also need to be outside our comfort zone to prevent the worst consequences from happening. And what I want people to do now is to, is to become aware of the crisis that is here, and that I, I tell world leaders when I speak to them, and I, I tell them how it is, how I, I tell them the science, and how it looks like, and, um... [00:01:28] Speaker 2: What do they say? You said, you said to, you said to us a moment ago, you want to push them [00:01:32] Greta: against the wall? Yeah. To shame them, you said. Those who, who need shaming. And, um, it's, that I have been doing for quite a while now, and it actually has a lot of impact when you speak, like, truth to power, when you don't bother to be polite, because this is such a serious crisis, and you cannot, we cannot focus on what we can or cannot say. Now we must speak clearly about what is happening. [00:02:05] Speaker 2: Mm-hmm. I'm wondering, Greta, what gave you the confidence to do that? That's what I was wondering, too. Yeah. [00:02:12] Greta: I don't know, I just know what is right, and I want to do what is right. I want to make sure that I have done anything, everything in my power to, to stop this crisis from happening, to prevent it, and, and that, and that I promised myself that I, I will do everything I can, and that is what I'm trying to do. And also, I have, I have Asperger's. I'm on the autism spectrum, so I don't really care about social codes in that way. In fact, you called your Asperger's, you called it a superpower, a gift. What do you mean by that? Yes, um, in some circumstances, it can definitely be an advantage to have some kind of neurotypical diagnosis, and to be neurodiverse, I mean, and, um, because that makes you different, that makes you think differently, and especially in such a big crisis like this, when we need to think outside the box, we need to think outside our current system, that we need people who think outside the box, and who aren't like everyone else, and, um... Mm-hmm. [00:03:28] Speaker 1: This began as a one-kid hunger strike in Sweden. Not hunger strike. [00:03:33] Greta: No? School strike. School strike. [00:03:36] Speaker 1: Okay. Even better. And now you have, now you have millions of kids around the, the world following you. What's it been like to watch that change? [00:03:45] Greta: It's been very surreal, because I think no one could have predicted that, and least of all me. Mm-hmm. It's just been an adventure seeing all these, all the things that have been happening. Yeah! And to see all these millions of children school striking for the climate, demanding a future, saying that, why should we study for a future that, that is being taken away from us? Yeah. When we are not doing anything to stop that. [00:04:18] Speaker 2: What's the one thing we could do, Greta, today, all of us who are listening to you? [00:04:22] Greta: I think the most important thing to do right now is to try to understand the crisis, is to grasp the problem. Mm-hmm. Because I think that once you fully understand the, the climate and ecological emergencies, then you know what you can do as well. Right. And, of course, there's a lot of things you can do in your everyday life, but we cannot be focusing on these individual things you can do. We have to see the full picture. [00:04:54] Speaker 2: All right, Greta, forgive me for interrupting you, but we have to go. Yeah. Thank you so much for joining us this morning. And you walked here. We should tell people she walked here this morning. All right. All right.