"Some politicians have told me that panic doesn't lead to anything good. I agree: panicking, unless it's necessary, is a terrible idea. But when your house is on fire and you don't want to lose it, a certain amount of panic is required."

This is how the speech begins that Greta Thunberg, the sixteen-year-old Swedish activist, delivered at the European Parliament on 16 April. Strasbourg is the first stop on a long train journey that will take the student all the way to Rome, where on 19 April she will demonstrate for the climate alongside the young Italians who have joined the Fridays for Future movement.

At the Parliament, Thunberg spoke to a large audience, warning those present: "We are in the middle of the sixth mass extinction, the extinction rate is 10,000 times faster than normal, with more than 200 species going extinct every day." The young girl was unable to hold back her emotion. "The great forests are succumbing, insects are disappearing, pollution is making the air we breathe toxic. These disasters are being accelerated by a lifestyle that developed countries consider a right."

In the Maldives, a sea turtle reached, a week ago, the place where she normally laid her eggs, after swimming for several kilometres. The only problem was that instead of a beach, there was an airport. This is a metaphor for how our planet is changing. Is this really the world we want?

"Soon there will be European elections and the people who will suffer the most serious consequences of this crisis, young people like me, will not be able to vote. This is why we have taken to the streets to strike: you must listen to us. You must vote for us. For your children and your grandchildren," Greta Thunberg concluded. On 26 May, let us remember her warning, and that turtle.