Fridays For Future: Greta Thunberg's Strike Changed 30% Swiss Citizens

Greta-Thunberg's 'Fridays for Future' protest strikes are bringing change in an important part of the world. According to the statistics from a recent survey, 30 percent of Switzerland citizens have brought major changes in their lifestyles in the light of protest. 

1200 people aged between 18 to 74 who did not take part in the protest were studied in the survey by EFPL. 

Greta Thunberg's Fridays For Future

Young climate activist, Greta Thunberg has been passionate about bringing a change since her teen years. Thunberg gained global recognition in the summer of 2018 when she started 'Schools Strikes For Climate' - a protest skipping her school demanding political action for the climate crisis.

The protest soon grew into a global movement as around 4 million students from across 150 countries stepped on the same path resulting in Fridays For Future strikes. 

Thunberg graduated in June this year which brought an end to her 2018 school protests; however. many other students followed her legacy and hundreds of strikes are still held on Fridays globally protesting against climatic issues and demanding change. 

A study by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) revealed, that one-third of the Switzwerlan citizens surveyed in the study had brought changes in their lifestyle from transportation, recycling habits, reducing the usage of plastic, vegetarianism, etc. under the light of Thunberg's Fridays For Future strikes. 

The study surveyed around 1,200 people between the ages of 18 to 74 living in Switzerland in October and November 2019 when the protests around the climate crisis were rising. The studied residents in the survey were the people who did not participate in the survey. 

The results of the survey that were published this week were encouraging as it highlighted that there is a wider impact of these strikes on people in their environmental decisions. 

Making a change, one protest at a time

While many mock Thunberg and believe these protests to be senseless, the majority of people in the survey viewed Thunberg's Fridays For Future strikes positively and 30% of people saw these protests to be reforming their lifestyle choices. 

The study's lead author and researcher, Livia Fritz told Euro News, how their study highlighted people becoming aware of their behaviour affecting the environment and they are making significant shifts at individual levels. 

According to the survey, the participants are now transforming their transportation habits by switching from driving to finding alternatives such as walking and cycling by taking vacations closer to homes and reducing the need to take flights. 

Participants also started looking for local and organic foods while many turned to vegetarianism. They are also making greater efforts to reduce buying and usage of plastic products. 

Fritz said that during the survey they observed a civic engagement that can have a direct effect on society as they saw changes being made at the individual level after protests. Fritz believed that these changes at the individual level could lead to broader societal changes if supported by political powers. 

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