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It has been suggested that this article should be split into a new article titled List of Greta Thunberg speeches. (discuss) (September 2019)
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Greta Thunberg
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Thunberg in April 2019
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| Born | Greta Tintin Eleonora Ernman Thunberg (2003-01-03) 3 January 2003 (age 21) |
| Occupation | Environmental activist |
| Years active | 2018–present |
| Movement | School strike for climate |
| Relatives | |
Greta Thunberg[a] FRSGS (born 3 January 2003)[2] is a Swedish environmental activistonclimate change whose campaigning has gained international recognition.
Thunberg first became known for her activism in August 2018 when, at age 15, she began spending her school days outside the Swedish parliament to call for stronger action on global warming by holding up a sign saying (in Swedish) "School strike for climate". Soon, other students engaged in similar protests in their own communities. Together they organized a school climate strike movement under the name Fridays for Future. After Thunberg addressed the 2018 United Nations Climate Change Conference, student strikes took place every week somewhere in the world. In 2019, there were at least two coordinated multi-city protests involving over one million students each.[3][4]
Thunberg is known for her blunt,[5] matter-of-fact speaking manner,[6] both in public and to political leaders and assemblies, in which she urges immediate action to address what she describes as the climate crisis. At home, Thunberg convinced her parents to adopt several lifestyle choices to reduce their own carbon footprint, including giving up air travel and not eating meat.
Her sudden rise to world fame has made her a leader and a target.[7] In May 2019, Thunberg was featured on the cover of Time magazine, which named her a "next generation leader" and noted that many see her as a role model.[8] Thunberg and the school strike movement were also featured in a 30-minute Vice documentary titled Make the World Greta Again. Some media have described her impact on the world stage as the "Greta Thunberg effect".[9]
Greta Thunberg was born on 3 January 2003 in Stockholm,[10][11] the daughter of opera singer Malena Ernman and actor Svante Thunberg.[12] Her paternal grandfather is actor and director Olof Thunberg.[13]
Thunberg says she first heard about climate change in 2011, when she was 8 years old, and could not understand why so little was being done about it.[14] Three years later she became depressed and lethargic, stopped talking and eating, and was eventually diagnosed with Asperger syndrome,[15] obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD),[15] and selective mutism.[15][16] While acknowledging that her diagnosis "has limited me before", she does not view her Asperger's as an illness and has instead called it her "superpower".[16]
For about two years, Thunberg challenged her parents to lower the family's carbon footprint by becoming vegan and giving up flying, which in part meant her mother had to give up her international career as an opera singer.[12][17] Thunberg credits her parents' eventual response and lifestyle changes with giving her hope and belief that she could make a difference.[12] The family story is recounted in the 2018 book Scenes from the Heart.[18]
In late 2018, Thunberg began the school climate strikes and public speeches for which she has become an internationally recognized climate activist. Her father does not like her missing school, but said: "[We] respect that she wants to make a stand. She can either sit at home and be really unhappy, or protest, and be happy".[17] Thunberg says her teachers are divided in their views about her missing class to make her point. She says: "As people they think what I am doing is good, but as teachers they say I should stop."[17]
Thunberg published a collection of her climate action speeches, No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference, in May 2019[19] with the earnings being donated to charity.[20] In one of her first speeches demanding climate action, Thunberg described the selective mutism aspect of her condition as meaning she "only speaks when necessary".[14] In 2019, Thunberg also contributed a voiceover for a release of "The 1975", the theme song of an English band by the same name. Thunberg finishes by urging: "So, everyone out there, it is now time for civil disobedience. It is time to rebel." Proceeds will go to Extinction Rebellion at Thunberg's request.[21]
In August 2019, Thunberg sailed across the Atlantic Ocean from Plymouth, UK, to New York, US, in a 60 ft racing yacht equipped with solar panels and underwater turbines. The trip was announced as a carbon-neutral transatlantic crossing serving as a demonstration of Thunberg's declared beliefs of the importance of reducing emissions. France 24 reported that several crew would fly to New York to take the yacht back to Europe.
The voyage lasted 15 days, from 14 to 28 August 2019. While in the Americas, Thunberg attended the UN Climate Action Summit in New York City, and will attend the COP 25 Climate Change Conference in Santiago, Chile, in December.[22][23]
In an interview with Amy Goodman from Democracy Now!, Thunberg said she first got the idea of a climate strike after school shootings in the United States in February 2018 led to several youths refusing to go back to school.[12] These teen activists at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High SchoolinParkland, Florida, went on to organize the March for Our Lives in support of greater gun control.[24][25]
In May 2018, Thunberg won a climate change essay competition held by Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet. In part, she wrote that “I want to feel safe. How can I feel safe when I know we are in the greatest crisis in human history?”[26] The paper published her article after which she was contacted by Bo Thorén from Fossil Free Dalsland, a group interested in doing something about climate change. Thunberg attended a few of their meetings, and at one of them, Thoren also suggested that school children could strike for climate change.[27] Thunberg tried to persuade other young people to get involved but "no one was really interested" so eventually, she decided to go ahead with the strike by herself.[12]
On 20 August 2018, Thunberg, who had just started ninth grade, decided not to attend school until the 2018 Swedish general election on 9 September; her protest began after the heat waves and wildfires during Sweden's hottest summer in at least 262 years.[17] Her demands were that the Swedish government reduce carbon emissions in accordance with the Paris Agreement, and she protested by sitting outside the Riksdag every day for three weeks during school hours with the sign Skolstrejk för klimatet (school strike for the climate).[28] She also handed out leaflets that stated: "I am doing this because you adults are shitting on my future."[17]
Thunberg posted her original strike photo on Instagram and Twitter and other social media accounts quickly took up her cause.[29] According to Ingmar Rentzhog, founder of a Swedish climate-focused social media company, We Don't Have Time (WDHT), her strike began attracting public attention after he turned up with a freelance photographer and then posted Thunberg's photograph on his Facebook page and Instagram account. He also made a video in English that he posted on the company's YouTube channel that had almost 88,000 views.[30] A representative of the Finnish bank, Nordea, quoted one of Thunberg's tweets to more than 200,000 followers. Thunberg's social media profile attracted local reporters whose stories earned international coverage in little more than a week.[29]
After the general elections, Thunberg continued to strike only on Fridays. She inspired school students across the globe to take part in student strikes.[31] As of December 2018, more than 20,000 students had held strikes in at least 270 cities.[31]
After October 2018, Thunberg's activism evolved from solitary protesting to taking part in demonstrations throughout Europe; making several high-profile public speeches, and mobilising her growing number of followers on social media platforms. By March 2019, she was still staging her regular protests outside the Swedish parliament every Friday, where other students now occasionally join her. Her activism has not interfered with her schoolwork, but she has had less spare time.[15]
In February 2019, 224 academics signed an open letter of support stating they were inspired by the actions of Thunberg and the striking school children in making their voices heard.[32] United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres also endorsed the school strikes initiated by Thunberg, admitting that "My generation has failed to respond properly to the dramatic challenge of climate change. This is deeply felt by young people. No wonder they are angry."[33]
In June 2019, Thunberg spoke by video link with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who had submitted the Green New Deal to the U.S. House of Representatives in February 2019, which calls for the United States to achieve "net-zero" greenhouse gases within a decade. They discussed how it feels when their views are not taken seriously because they are young, and what tactics really work.[34]
Speaking at an event in New Zealand in May 2019, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said his generation was "not winning the battle against climate change" and that it's up to youth to "rescue the planet".[35]
When Thunberg began her protest outside the Swedish Parliament in 2018 at age 15, she had two simple messages: a sign which said "school strike for the climate" and leaflets she handed out which said: "I am doing this because you adults are shitting on my future."[36] As her protest gained momentum, she was invited to give speeches at a variety of forums which enabled her to expand on her concerns. So far, she has stated four interwoven themes: that humanity is facing an existential crisis[37] due to climate change, that the current generation of adults is responsible for climate change,[38][39] that climate change will have a disproportionate effect on young people and that too little is being done about the situation.[40][41][42] She has also stated that that politicians and decision-makers need to listen to the scientists.[43][44]
Also part of her messaging is that the 1.5 °C commitment as part of the Paris Agreement is insufficient and that the greenhouse gas emissions curve needs to start declining steeply no later than 2020.[45][46] In February 2019, at a conference of the European Economic and Social Committee, she said that the EU must reduce their CO2 emissions by 80% by 2030, double the 40% goal set in Paris.[47][48][49][50][51]
Thunberg's rhetoric uses graphic analogies to highlight her concerns and often speaks bluntly to business and political leaders.[52][53]
Thunberg has inspired a number of her school-aged peers in what has been described as the "Greta Thunberg effect".[54] In response to her outspoken stance, various politicians have also acknowledged the need to focus on climate change. Britain's secretary for the environment, Michael Gove, said: "When I listened to you, I felt great admiration, but also responsibility and guilt. I am of your parents' generation, and I recognise that we haven't done nearly enough to address climate change and the broader environmental crisis that we helped to create." Labour politician Ed Miliband, who was responsible for introducing the Climate Change Act 2008, said: "You have woken us up. We thank you. All the young people who have gone on strike have held up a mirror to our society … you have taught us all a really important lesson. You have stood out from the crowd."[9] In June 2019, a YouGov poll in Britain found that public concern about the environment had soared to record levels in the UK since Thunberg and Extinction Rebellion had "pierced the bubble of denial".[55]
In August 2019, a doubling in the number of children's books being published which address the climate crisis was reported, with a similar increase in the sales of such books—all aimed at empowering young people to save the planet. Publishers attribute this to the "Greta Thunberg effect".[56]
Inspired by Thunberg, wealthy philanthropists and investors from the United States have donated almost half a million pounds to support Extinction Rebellion and school strike groups to establish the Climate Emergency Fund.[57] Trevor Neilson, one of the philanthropists, said the three founders would be contacting friends among the global mega-rich to donate "a hundred times" more in the weeks and months ahead.[58]
In February 2019, Thunberg shared a stage with the then President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, where he outlined “In the next financial period from 2021 to 2027, every fourth euro spent within the EU budget will go towards action to mitigate climate change”.[59] Climate issues also played a significant role in European elections in May 2019[60] as Green parties nearly doubled their vote to finish second on 21%,[61] boosting their MEP numbers to a projected 71.[62] Many of the gains came from northern European countries where young people have taken to the streets inspired by Thunberg.[61] The result gives the Greens a chance of becoming 'kingmakers' in the new European parliament.[62]
In June 2019, Swedish Railways (SJ) reported that the number of Swedes taking the train for domestic journeys had risen by 8% from the previous year, reflecting growing public concern about the impact of flying on CO2 emissions that is highlighted by Thunberg's refusal to fly to international conferences. Being embarrassed or ashamed to take a plane because of its environmental impact has been described on social media as 'Flygskam' or "Shame of flying", along with the hashtag #jagstannarpåmarken, which translates as #istayontheground.[63][64]
In an opinion column, Christopher Caldwell has claimed that Thunberg's simplistic, straightforward approach to climate change will bring climate protesters into conflict with the complexities of decision-making in Western democracies.[65][66] The French philosopher Raphaël Enthoven claims that many people "buy virtue" with their support for Thunberg but do not actually do anything to help.[67]
In July 2019, Agence France-Presse reported that OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) secretary-general Mohammed Barkindo "complained of what he called 'unscientific' attacks on the oil industry by climate change campaigners, calling them 'perhaps the greatest threat to our industry going forward'", and said he was apparently referring "to the recent wave of school strikes inspired by Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg's 'Fridays for Future' movement".[68] Thunberg and other climate activists responded by calling his remarks a badge of honour.[69][70]
Swedish opinion writer Paulina Neuding invoked mental health issues to question the idea that Thunberg should be leading climate change activism.[71] Thunberg has also been criticised by the Australian climate-change denier Andrew Bolt[72] after Thunberg announced she would travel to the United States in a carbon-zero yacht. Bolt said she had a cult following, calling her "freakishly influential"[73] for a "girl so young and with so many mental disorders".[74]
Following Thunberg's filing of a lawsuit against France, Germany and other countries for not being on track to meet the emission reduction targets they committed to in their Paris Agreement pledges, French president Emmanuel Macron criticized her, saying that "such radical positions (as held by Thunberg) antagonize our societies". He added that "she should focus on those that are blocking, those that are the furthest", and that "he doesn't feel like either the French or the German governments are trying to block". French secretary of state for the Ecological and Inclusive Transition Brune Poirson also criticized her, saying that "she doesn't know what solutions she is putting forward", adding that "you can't mobilize with despair, even hate".[75]
By August 2019, Scientific American was reporting that Thunberg's detractors have "launched personal attacks", "bash (her) autism", and "increasingly rely on ad hominem attacks to blunt her influence."[76]
Writing in The Guardian, Aditya Chakrabortty said that columnists including Brendan O'Neill, Toby Young, the blog Guido Fawkes, as well as Helen Dale and Rod LiddleatThe Spectator and The Sunday Times had been making "ugly personal attacks" on Thunberg.[77] As part of its climate change denial, Germany's right wing Alternative for Germany party has attacked Thunberg "in fairly vicious ways", according to Jakob Guhl, a researcher for the Institute for Strategic Dialogue.[78] British businessman Arron Banks released a post on Twitter appearing to wish harm upon Thunberg as she began her transatlantic voyage warning that "Freak yachting accidents do happen in August".[79]
Banks' comments outraged a number of MPs (Member of Parliament), celebrities and academics. Tanja Bueltmann, founder of EU Citizens' Champion, said Banks had "invoked the drowning of a child" for his own amusement, and noted that most of those attacking Thunberg "are white middle-aged men from the right of the political spectrum".[80] Writing in The Guardian, Gaby Hinsliff, said Thunberg has become "the new front in the Brexit culture war" arguing that the outrage generated by personal attacks on Thunberg by Brexiteers "gives them the welcome oxygen of publicity".[81] British philosopher Julian Baggini said 'thuggish' personal criticisms of Thunberg are indicative of "a moral and intellectual bankruptcy".[67]
Essayist Steve Silberman, writing in Vox, points out that being on the autism spectrum enables Thunberg to be fearless in her rhetoric.[82] In an interview with Suyin Haynes in Time magazine, she addressed the criticism she has received online saying: "It's quite hilarious when the only thing people can do is mock you, or talk about your appearance or personality, as it means they have no argument or nothing else to say."[83]
In late 2018, Ingmar Rentzhog, who claims to be one of the first to publicize Thunberg's climate strike, asked her to become an unpaid youth advisor to his climate startup company. He then used her name and image without her knowledge or permission to raise millions for a WDHT for-profit subsidiary, We Don't Have Time AB, of which Rentzhog is the chief executive officer.[84] Thunberg received no money from the company.[30] She terminated her volunteer advisor role with WDHT once she realised they were making money from her name, stating "[I am] not part of any organization… am absolutely independent… [and] do what I do completely for free."[85]
InLondon in October 2018, she addressed the 'Declaration of Rebellion' organized by Extinction Rebellion opposite the Houses of Parliament. She said: "We're facing an immediate unprecedented crisis that has never been treated as a crisis and our leaders are all acting like children. We need to wake up and change everything".[53][86]
On 24 November 2018, she spoke at TEDxStockholm.[14][87] She spoke about realizing, when she was eight years old, that climate change existed and wondering why it was not headline news on every channel, as if there was a world war going on. She said she did not go to school to become a climate scientist, as some suggested, because the science was done and only denial, ignorance, and inaction remained. Speculating that her children and grandchildren would ask her why they had not taken action in 2018 when there was still time, she concluded with "we can't change the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed."[88]
Thunberg addressed the COP24 United Nations climate change summit on 4 December 2018,[31] and also spoke before the plenary assembly on 12 December 2018.[89][90] During the summit, she also participated in a panel talk together with representatives of the We Don't Have Time foundation, in which she talked about how the school strike began.[91]
On 23 January 2019, Thunberg arrived in Davos after a 32-hour train journey,[92] in contrast to the many delegates who arrived by up to 1,500 individual private jet flights,[93] to continue her climate campaign at the World Economic Forum.[94][95] She told a Davos panel "Some people, some companies, some decision makers in particular have known exactly what priceless values they have been sacrificing to continue making unimaginable amounts of money. I think many of you here today belong to that group of people."[52]
Later in the week, she warned the global leaders that "I don't want you to be hopeful. I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day. And then I want you to act. I want you to act as you would in a crisis. I want you to act as if the house was on fire—because it is".[42] She wrote in an article for The Guardian in January 2019: "According to the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), we are less than 12 years away from not being able to undo our mistakes. In that time, unprecedented changes in all aspects of society need to have taken place, including a reduction of our CO2 emissions by at least 50%".[44]
On 21 February 2019, she spoke at a conference of the European Economic and Social Committee and to European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker, where she said that to limit global warming to less than the two degrees C goal established at the Paris Agreement, the EU must reduce their CO2 emissions by 80% by 2030, double the 40% goal set in Paris. "If we fail to do so" she said, "all that will remain of our political leaders' legacy will be the greatest failure of human history." Later, she joined 7,500 Belgian students in a climate protest in Brussels.[47][96]
In the weekend 29–31 March 2019, Thunberg visited Berlin. She spoke in front of some 25,000 people near the Brandenburg Gate on 29 March, where she argued that "We live in a strange world where children must sacrifice their own education in order to protest against the destruction of their future. Where the people who have contributed the least to this crisis are the ones who are going to be affected the most."[97] After the speech, Thunberg and fellow climate activist Luisa Neubauer visited the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and met with scientists there. On 30 March, Thunberg received the 'Golden Camera' Special Award on Germany's annual film and television award show. In her acceptance speech at the gala, Thunberg urged celebrities everywhere to use their influence and do their fair share of climate activism to help her.[98][99][100]
At an April 2019 meeting at the European Parliament in Strasbourg with MEPs and EU officials, Thunberg chided those present "for three emergency Brexit summits and no emergency summit regarding the breakdown of the climate and the environment". Climate change discussions have not been dominant at EU summits because other issues have taken precedence.[101] She said the world is facing its “sixth mass extinction” and said: "We have not treated this crisis as a crisis; we see it as another problem that needs to be fixed. But it is so much more than that. It’s an existential crisis, more important than anything else."[101][37]
In May 2019, Thunberg met with Arnold Schwarzenegger, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, and Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen at the launch of a conference organised by Schwarzenegger to speed up progress toward the Paris Agreement.[102] Quoting the most recent IPCC report she said: "If we haven't made the changes required by approximately the year 2030, we will probably set off an irreversible chain reaction beyond human control. Then we will pass a point of no return which will be catastrophic." 17,000 people attended the event from 30 different countries.[103]
On 21 July 2019, Thunberg received the Normandy's Freedom Prize. In her speech she said: "Yesterday I spent the day with the D-day veteran Charles Norman Shay at Omaha beach. It was a day I will never forget. Not only because of the unimaginable bravery and sacrifices made by those who gave their lives to defend the freedom and democracy of the world. But also because they managed to do the seemingly impossible possible. I think the least we can do to honour them is to stop destroying that same world that Charles, Léon and their friends and colleagues fought so hard to save for us."[104]
On 18 September 2019, Thunberg appeared before the United States House of Representatives Select Committee on the Climate Crisis: “Voices Leading the Next Generation on the Global Climate Crisis” and delivered an eight sentence statement instead of offering testimony. She said: "My name is Greta Thunberg. I have not come to offer prepared remarks at this hearing. I am instead attaching my testimony. It is the IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C [SR1.5] which was released on October 8, 2018. I am submitting this report as my testimony because I don’t want you to listen to me. I want you to listen to the scientists. And I want you to unite behind the science. And then I want you to take action."[105]
On 20 September 2019, Thunberg spoke to New York City's contingent of the Global Climate Strike. The demonstration in New York City was one of hundreds around the world with millions of people taking part. Young people were joined by adults for the first time since the strikes began. Thunberg drew laughter when she described how the politicians that she met asked her for selfies and “tell us they really, really admire what we do yet have done nothing to address the climate crisis." [106][107]
On 23 September 2019, Thunberg addressed the assembled world leaders at the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit held in New York City. Accusing world leaders of stealing her dreams and her childhood by their inaction on climate change, she opened her speech to the General Assembly with an impassioned introduction, which was widely covered by the media.
"This is all wrong. I shouldn’t be standing here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to me for hope? How dare you! You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I’m one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction. And all you can talk about is money and fairytales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!"[108] "You are failing us." Thunberg stated. "But the young people are starting to understand your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us, I say: We will never forgive you.[109]
US President Donald Trump, who had attended the meeting for 10 minutes and then left, tweeted a video of her opening remarks and commented: "She seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future. So nice to see!"[110] Thunberg did not directly comment on Trump's tweet but she did make a change to her Twitter bio wherein she described herself as "A very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future."[111]
On 27 September 2019, Thunberg was in Montreal, Canada, for its Global Climate Strike; she used an electric car for transportation that she borrowed from Arnold Schwarzenegger.[112] Thunberg briefly spoke and fielded questions at a Global Climate Strike press conference. She said: "It is very moving to see everyone who is so passionate to march and strike. People of all ages, all generations. It is a very good day, I would say.”[112] When asked why she invited indigenous youth to help lead the march, she said: “Indigenous people have for centuries and millenniums protected the local environment and of course we need to because they are often the ones who are being, who are at the front line, so we need to be able to hear their voices. So that’s why I think it’s so important that indigenous people lead this fight.”[112] Thunberg was asked if she had a specific message for the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau (she had met with the Prime Minister before the press conference).『My message to all the politicians is the same — to listen to the science and act on the science,』she said.[112]
Following the press conference, Thunberg joined First Nations Indigenous people and together they led the climate march. After the marchers gathered at the main stage, Thunberg delivered a speech which was peppered with French. Thunberg told Montreal marchers that the fight against climate change will not stop until world leaders take the problem seriously.[113]
On 23 September 2019, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) hosted a press conference where Thunberg joined 15 other children (Ayakha Melithafa, Alexandria Villaseñor, Catarina Lorenzo, Carl Smith, et al) and together the group announced they had filed a lawsuit against five nations that are not on track to meet the emission reduction targets they committed to in their Paris Agreement pledges: Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, and Turkey.[114][115] The lawsuit is challenging the nations under the UN's Convention on the Rights of the Child (specifically the right to life, health, and peace). If the complaint is successful, the countries will be asked to respond, but any suggestions are not legally binding.[116][117]
In May 2018, before starting her climate strike, Thunberg was one of the winners of Svenska Dagbladet's debate article writing competition on the climate for young people.[26] In November 2018, about three months into her school climate strike, Thunberg was nominated for the Children's Climate Prize, which is awarded by the Swedish electricity company Telge Energi. However, Thunberg declined to accept the award because many of the finalists would have to fly to Stockholm for the ceremony and a required meeting with one another.[118][119]
Thunberg was awarded the 2018 Fryshuset scholarship of the Young Role Model of the Year.[120] Time magazine named Thunberg one of the world's 25 most influential teenagers of 2018.[121] On the occasion of International Women's Day Thunberg was proclaimed the most important woman of the year in Sweden in 2019. The award was based on a survey by the institute Inizio on behalf of the newspaper Aftonbladet.[122]
On 13 March 2019, two deputies of the Swedish parliament and three deputies of the Norwegian parliament nominated Thunberg as a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize. The nominating politicians explained their decision by arguing that global warming will be the cause of "wars, conflict and refugees" if nothing is done to halt it. Thunberg responded that she was "honoured and very grateful" for the nomination.[123] If Thunberg receives the Prize later this year, she will become the youngest person ever to receive it.[124]
On 31 March 2019, Thunberg received the German Goldene Kamera Special Climate Protection award.[125] On 1 April 2019, the Prix Liberté from France's region Normandy was awarded to Thunberg, which she received in Caen on 21 July that year.[126] Thunberg is the first recipient of this new award, which was designed to honour a young person engaged in a fight for peace and freedom.[127] Thunberg said she would donate the €25,000 prize money to four organisations working for climate justice and helping areas already affected by climate change.[104]
On 12 April 2019, Thunberg shared the Norwegian Fritt Ords Prize, which celebrates freedom of speech, with the Nature and Youth organization. The conferring organization, Fritt Ord noted their determined committed activism even in the face of pervasive online and media harassment. Thunberg donated her share of the prize money to a lawsuit which seeks to halt Norwegian oil exploration in the Arctic.[128]
In April 2019, Time magazine named Thunberg as one of the 100 most influential people of 2019.[129] In the same month, the Chilean-based organization, Fundación Milarepa para el Diálogo con Asia, headed by Mario Aguilar of the University of St Andrews, announced that Thunberg had been selected as the recipient of the organization's Laudato Si' Prize.[130]
In May 2019, the University of Mons announced it had awarded a doctor honoris causa (honorary degree) to Thunberg. The doctoral diploma and insignia will be bestowed at the official opening of the university’s 2019-2020 academic year on 10 October 2019.[131] In July 2019, Thunberg was awarded the Geddes Environment Medal by the Royal Scottish Geographical Society,[132] which automatically granted her its Honorary Fellowship.[133]
In May 2019, artist Jody Thomas painted a 50-foot-high (15 m) mural of Thunberg on a wall in Bristol. It portrays the bottom half of her face as if under rising sea water.[134] In May 2019, Thunberg was featured on the cover of Time magazine where she was described as a role model,[83] and one of the "next generation leaders".[8]
In May 2019, Vice released a 30-minute documentary, Make the World Greta Again. It features interviews with a number of youth protest leaders in Europe.[135][136]
On 7 June 2019, Amnesty International announced that it will give Thunberg their most prestigious award, the Ambassador of Conscience Award, for her leadership in the climate movement. Thunberg then said the prize equally belongs to everyone who has taken part in the Fridays for Future Movement in school strike for climate.[137] The activist said the award is "for all those millions of people, young people, around the world who together make up the movement called Friday's for Future."[138][139]
The September 2019 issue of British Vogue magazine's cover featured Thunberg (along with fifteen women); the cover was created by guest editor Meghan, Duchess of Sussex.[140]
Greta Thunberg received the first-ever Game Changer Award at the GQ "Men Of The Year Awards 2019" on 3 September 2019. The award was designed specifically with her in mind.[141]
On 25 September 2019, Thunberg was named as one of four winners of the 2019 Right Livelihood Award, known as Sweden’s alternative Nobel Prize. Thunberg won the award “for inspiring and amplifying political demands for urgent climate action reflecting scientific facts,” the Right Livelihood Foundation said in a statement.[142]
Thunberg was invited to Montreal City Hall to receive "Keys to the City" after a climate march on 27 September 2019; Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante welcomed her.[143] Upon receiving Keys to the City, Thunberg said: "I am incredibly honored."[144]
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Society portal{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
I was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, OCD, and selective mutism. That basically means I only speak when I think it's necessary. Now is one of those moments… I think that in many ways, we autistic are the normal ones, and the rest of the people are pretty strange, especially when it comes to the sustainability crisis, where everyone keeps saying that climate change is an existential threat and the most important issue of all and yet they just carry on like before.
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Like-wise, (New York) Times reviewers spanned the ideological spectrum, including Patrick Cockburn and Paul Hockenos on the left, Roger Cohen and Matt Bai in the center and Ross Douthat and Christopher Caldwell on the right.
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You only speak of a green eternal economic growth because you are too scared of being unpopular. You only talk about moving forward with the same bad ideas that got us into this mess, even when the only sensible thing to do is pull the emergency brake. You are not mature enough to tell it like it is. Even that burden you leave to us children. […] And if solutions within the system are so impossible to find, then maybe we should change the system itself.
I think it is insane that people are gathered here to talk about the climate and they arrive here in private jet.
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