Sixteen-year-old climate activist Greta Thunburg has been named TIME’s ‘Person of the Year’ for 2019 on Wednesday, 11 December.
Thunberg came to the limelight a year earlier, in September 2018, when she sat in front of the Swedish Parliament to shed light on environmental problems and government inaction on the same.
While she initially protested for a few days at a stretch, she soon decided on a weekly protest, where she would miss school and protest in front of the Parliament. The strike soon turned into a global movement with Friday demonstrations becoming a regular affair.
From Swedish Parliament to UN: Thunberg’s Journey
Since then, Thunberg has inspired millions to rally for climate change.
Just a year later, on 20 September 2019, over 4 million people across 163 countries participated in the global strike against climate change.
Their demand was simple: to pressurise governments and companies to stop burning fossil fuels and take real action to overcome the climate crisis.
The strike was called forth across in 5,800 different locations, and inspired millions to take action in saving their environment – all led by the teen environmental activist to coincide with the United Nations Climate Summit in New York.
‘You Failed Us’: Greta Thunberg’s Moving Plea at UN Climate Summit
In an emotional address at the climate summit, Thunberg lashed out that the world leaders have ‘failed the future generations by failing to act against climate crisis.’
“This is all wrong. I shouldn’t be up here. I should be back in school, on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you?” she said, pointing out government and corporate inaction over the climate crisis.
She added that the leaders have stolen her “dreams and childhood.”
“We are at the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can do is talk about eternal economic growth.”Greta Thunberg, Climate Activist
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