Book Review by Soumyaa Das, bookseller
No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference by Greta Thunberg
In 2018, I first heard of a girl in Sweden that protested against climate change by missing a day of school. As an environmentalist myself, I finally had some hope that large corporations and businesses might actually listen to this rebellious teenager and start saving our environment for future generations. However, as time progressed, I began to believe that there was no chance that we would be able to revert back to emission-free days. In fact, climate change is the most concerning topic for younger generations (millennials and after). Greta Thunberg excellently portrays my exact apprehensions. The imperative and assertive nature of this book is bound to inspire older and younger generations to fix their carbon footprint, and hopefully salvage what we have destroyed. After all, we only have 1.5 years to reverse the growth of greenhouse gas emissions.
Excerpt: “We must change almost everything in our current societies. The bigger your carbon footprint – the bigger your moral duty. The bigger your platform – the bigger your responsibility. Adults keep saying: ‘We owe it to the young people to given them hope.’ But I don’t want your hope. I don’t want you to be hopeful. I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day. And then I want you to act. I want you to act as you would in a crisis. I want you to act as if our house is on fire. Because it is.”
Wellington Square Bookshop 