It felt like I was the only one who cared about the climate and the ecological crisis. My parents didn't care about it, my classmates didn't care about it, my relatives didn't care about this. I mean nobody I knew cared about this and I felt like I was the only one.

I'm not saying that people should stop flying. I'm just saying it needs to be easier to be climate neutral.

I think that once you fully understand the climate and ecological emergencies, then you know what you can do as well. 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.

I just know what is right and I want to do what is right.

So when I speak in front of thousands, tens of thousands of people, I don't really get nervous because I know what I want to say and I know what message I want to give.

When I was maybe eight or nine years old, I first learned about the climate crisis in school. My teachers taught me about it and we saw films and pictures of plastic in the ocean and extreme weather events. Those pictures were just stuck in my head; I thought, there is no point in anything.

Being young is a great advantage, since we see the world from a new perspective and we are not afraid to make radical changes.

I don't think I would be interested in the climate at all if I had been like everyone else.

I don't fly because of the enormous climate impact of aviation per person.

The thing that's made me open my eyes to what was happening to the environment and climate was films and documentaries.

I'm very weak in a sense. I'm very tiny and I am very emotional, and that is not something people usually associate with strength.

I don't really like being in the centre of attention.

People tell me that they are so hopeful when they see me and other children 'school-striking,' and they say, 'Oh the children are going to save us.' But no, we aren't. We are too young to be able to do that. We don't have time to wait for us to grow up and fix this in the future.

I personally have stopped flying. I have stopped eating meat and dairy.

I don't easily fall for lies, I can see through things.

When I was 11 I became very depressed. It had a lot to do with the climate and ecological crisis. I thought everything was just so wrong and nothing was happening and there's no point in anything.

Most emissions aren't caused by individuals, they're caused by corporations and states.

We are at a time in history where everyone with any insight of the climate crisis that threatens our civilisation - and the entire biosphere - must speak out in clear language, no matter how uncomfortable and unprofitable that may be.

Some say we should not engage in activism. Instead we should leave everything to our politicians and just vote for a change instead. But what do we do when there is no political will? What do we do when the politics needed are nowhere in sight?

When I have been travelling around to speak in different countries, I am always offered help to write about the specific climate policies in specific countries. But that is not really necessary. Because the basic problem is the same everywhere.

Avoiding climate breakdown will require cathedral thinking. We must lay the foundation while we may not know exactly how to build the ceiling.

I believe that one person can make a difference.

The best thing about my protest has been to see how more and more people have been coming and getting involved.

Sweden is not a green paradise, it has one of the biggest carbon footprints.