Teen climate champion Greta Thunberg on Friday brought her global environmental message to the heart of the US government, telling her legion of supporters outside the White House: “Never give up.”
The 16-year-old Swede, who has inspired youngsters across the world with her urgent call to arms, demanded action from the world’s No. 1 economy and its notoriously climate change skeptical president as part of a demonstration beginning two weeks of protest.
Thunberg joined a few hundred people who shouted slogans and sang, but was careful to stay near the back, avoiding the limelight and questions from the media before finally addressing her supporters.
Photo: AFP
“Never give up — we will continue,” she said in a speech thanking the crowd and rallying the wider teen environment movement to keep up pressure on polluters.
“I’m just going to say I’m so incredibly grateful for every single one of you. I’m so proud of you to have come here,” she said.
Thunberg is not as well known in the US as in Europe, but her six-day stay in Washington is nonetheless to be marked by high-profile honors.
Tomorrow, Amnesty International is to present her its highest honor for human rights work and she is on Wednesday to testify before the US Congress on the invitation of Democratic lawmakers in the US House of Representatives.
On Wednesday last week, she was a guest on The Daily Show in New York City, where she again called on young people to mobilize and stop human-made global warming, since older generations have failed to act.
“We in a way feel like it is a direct threat. Others feel like: ‘I won’t be alive then anyway, so screw it,’” she said.
Thunberg, who was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome at the age of 12, arrived in the US on Aug. 28 on a zero-emissions yacht.
She rose to fame after she in August last year began sitting outside the Swedish Parliament to get members to act on climate change.
She was quickly joined by other students around the world, as word of her strike spread through the media, and the “Fridays for future” movement was born.
New York City authorities have given their blessing for the next strike on Friday, in which students from the city’s 1,700 schools are to participate.
“New York City stands with our young people. They’re our conscience. We support the 9/20 #ClimateStrike,” New York Mayor Bill de Blasio wrote on Twitter.
On Monday last week, Thunberg was clearly an inspiring figure at the protest, with fellow teens expressing feelings of protectiveness when a media scrum tried to mob her.
“I think she’s an amazing leader and I’m happy to have her in our midst, but it’s sad that we have to celebritize people, and to put this much pressure on a teenager just like me,” Kallan Benson, 15, said.
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