Greta Thunberg: Climate Change Activist

Swedish activist Greta Thunberg is a popular figurehead for climate change activism, despite being only 15 years old when she began. She gained attention by organizing climate change protests outside the Swedish parliament, which led to an invitation to speak at the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit. Thunberg, along with her father and a crew, sailed a zero-emissions yacht for two weeks to New York from Sweden to attend the summit.

Thunberg’s summit speech entitled “How Dare You” lectured on the “collapse of ecosystems” and the “beginning of mass extinction.” She chastised the world leaders who attended for stealing her “dreams and … childhood with [their] empty words.” Thunberg continued attending climate change protests afterward, and she was named Time’s Person of the Year 2019 for her activism.