Greta Thunberg Gets A Shoutout From Barack Obama
Greta Thunberg is still making waves — they just aren’t literal anymore.
Nearly two months ago, the Swedish teenager sailed across the Atlantic Ocean in a zero-emissions boat to participate in two United Nations climate summits.
On Tuesday, the 16-year-old met with former President Barack Obama, who acknowledged her as “one of our planet’s greatest activists.”
“Recognizing that her generation will bear the brunt of climate change, she’s unafraid to push for real action,” Obama said in a shoutout to Thunberg on Twitter.
Just 16, @GretaThunberg is already one of our planet’s greatest advocates. Recognizing that her generation will bear the brunt of climate change, she’s unafraid to push for real action. She embodies our vision at the @ObamaFoundation: A future shaped by young leaders like her. pic.twitter.com/VgCPAaDp3C
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) September 17, 2019
Thunberg has become a figurehead in an emerging youth movement that’s reacting to political inaction on climate change.
Last week, Thunberg and hundreds of other young protesters held a climate rally outside the White House carrying signs that read “I want you to panic!” and “Why are we studying for a future we won’t have?” They chanted, “This is a crisis, act like it!” and “No more coal, no more oil, keep that carbon in the soil.”
Asked if she would make her case personally to President Donald Trump, Thunberg told CBS in August she had no interest in wasting her time. (Trump has a long history of denying the threat posed by climate change.)
“Why should I waste time talking to him when he, of course, is not going to listen to me?” she said at the time. “I can’t say anything that he hasn’t already heard.”
In 2018, ahead of a general election in Sweden, the then-15-year-old went on strike outside the parliament building in Stockholm, handing out leaflets reading “I am doing this because you adults are shitting on my future.”
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
