Greta is an Ecosystems Science student who grew up in a small town in Germany. Since she was very young she learned to love nature and to take care of our planet. Her family has always been supportive of renewable energy, and has solar panels to meet their own energy needs. She has been engaged with environmental issues for a long time, but it was only in college that she fully joined the climate movement. She’s currently advocating for moving money from big polluters to funding the renewable energy transition in Europe through 350’s Tax Their Billions campaign.
“My wake up call to move from being supportive to taking action was when I learned about the village of Lützerath, proposed to be taken down by RWE to make space for more coal. I joined the activists occupying the village, in a muddy and cold winter. That experience was super moving, and opened my eyes to how powerful the fossil fuel industry is – but also to how much more powerful we are when we unite“.
Greta joined the Tax Their Billions campaign after discovering that the world’s richest 1% produce more carbon emissions than the poorest 66%. “This is really unfair, and shows that we won’t be able to change things fast enough just by changing our lifestyles, if those rich polluters don’t do so too. The Tax Their Billions campaign offers a clear and practical solution: tax their wealth to enable a just energy transition to benefit us all”. Greta had attended climate protests before, but this was the first campaign where she organized her own action.
Since joining 350’s Tax Their Billions campaign, Greta has deepened her understanding of what it takes to not just fight fossil fuels, but also power a fair and accessible transition to renewable energy. In the coming year, she plans to organize with other activists and groups across Germany to help grow the campaign.
This is a story from 350.org’s 2024 Annual Report