Greta
Thunberg Is The 'Time' Person Of The Year For 2019
Swedish climate activist
Greta Thunberg was named Time magazine's person of the year
for showing "what it might look like when a new generation leads."
She's seen here at the COP25 Climate Conference in Madrid on Wednesday.
Greta
Thunberg, the activist who has quickly become a leading voice on climate
change, is Time's Person of the Year for 2019. At 16, she is the
youngest person to earn the title in the magazine's 92-year history.
Thunberg burst onto the
world stage in the past year, organizing school strikes and protest marches to
call attention to a climate crisis that she says older generations are not
taking seriously enough.
She has famously called out
world leaders for debating scientific facts and failing to stop a global
warming trend that will affect the world's children more than it affects anyone
who's currently in power.
Reacting to the honor, Thunberg said she is "a bit surprised" to be chosen, according to
The Associated Press, which adds that Thunberg dedicated her recognition to
other young activists.
Thunberg is currently in
Madrid, where she delivered a speech at a U.N. climate conference Wednesday morning.
"Well, I am telling
you there is hope. I have seen it," she told the audience. "But it
does not come from the governments or corporations. It comes from the people.
Thunberg has drawn the support of millions of people, including
demonstrators who coordinated an international protest day in September when
she was visiting Washington and other U.S. cities.
The Swedish teenager has
spoken with the pope, the U.N. secretary general and other influential figures.
But Thunberg has also been mocked or criticized by climate skeptics — and by
powerful leaders such as President Trump, Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro and
Russia's President Vladimir Putin. She has shrugged off those attacks, saying
she won't be silenced.
"We need a balance of optimism and outrage" in the
environmental movement, Thunberg said in Madrid. She added, "We need
optimism to keep going and to not give up ... and we need outrage to be able to
step outside our comfort zones."
Time says the award is based on
the idea that powerful individuals shape the world. It chose Thunberg, the
magazine says, for raising the alarm on climate change and "showing us all
what it might look like when a new generation leads."
In the past, Thunberg has
spoken about how her generation is being burdened both with climate change's
effects and the task of educating people about it. And if the rise in average
temperatures goes unchecked, she says, the effects will be cataclysmic.
"For about a year, I
have been constantly talking about our rapidly declining carbon budgets — over
and over again," Thunberg said on Wednesday. She added, "But since
that is still being ignored, I will just keep repeating it."
Because of the clarity and
energy she has brought to the discussion over climate change, Thunberg has been
named as a contender for a number of international honors, including the Nobel
Peace Prize. But she recently
rejected an environmental prize and
cash award from the Nordic Council, saying, "It is a huge honor. But the
climate movement does not need any more awards."
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