At 16, She Scolds European Leaders and Stares Down Trump. Who Is Greta Thunberg?

She is up for the Nobel Peace Prize. What were you doing at 16?

Greta Thunberg is everywhere. YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, whatever else you use: she is there. It is no surprise, since by the age of 16 she had already become the leader of a protest involving millions and a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize. Yesterday, September 23, Greta spoke at the United Nations summit in New York.

"It is all wrong," Thunberg said in an emotional speech. "I should not be here. I should be in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you come to us young people looking for hope. How dare you!"

"You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words," Thunberg told world leaders. "We will be watching you."

At the end of her speech, Greta instantly delivered on her promise, giving U.S. President Donald Trump a striking "death stare."

Who is Greta Thunberg?

The #FridaysForFuture movement began in late August 2018, when Greta Thunberg, inspired by the "March for Our Lives" (an action organized by students in Washington in support of tighter control over firearms), instead of the traditional Friday trip to school went to the Stockholm parliament with a solo picket. The slogan "School Strike for Climate" (Skolstrejk För Klimatet) and a few printed flyers explaining the essence of her action ("If you adults don't care about my future, then I don't care either") were enough to achieve instant virality.

"I kept thinking about whether I had a future," Greta later recalled. "I kept it to myself, because I am hard to call a chatterbox. And it affected my health. I felt very depressed and stopped going to school. My parents took care of me at home, and we began to talk. I told them about my concerns regarding the climate crisis and the environment. It was a relief to get that weight off my shoulders."

The following Friday, the idea that education becomes meaningless as the climate deteriorates already had its first followers. Greta Thunberg, who persuaded her parents to become vegans and give up flying, began to be invited to television and forums, she was talked about in the media and parliament, and over time the number of people joining her movement around the world reached several million.

Greta Thunberg has spoken at a UN conference and traveled to the Davos economic forum by train, where, incidentally, she lived in a tent together with other activists. And in March 2019, three members of the Swedish parliament representing the Left Party nominated Thunberg for the Nobel Peace Prize for her contribution to the fight against global warming.

"We nominated Greta because the climate threat may become one of the causes of war and conflict. And the movement organized by Greta may make a significant contribution to sustaining peace," said politician Freddy André Øvstegård.

Greta Thunberg's Main Messages

"I believe our greatest danger is our inaction. The problem is that companies and politicians only create the appearance that something is being done, but in reality nothing is happening. All we see are clever reports and creative PR."

"For 25 years, a huge number of people have spoken at these conferences and asked world leaders to reduce emissions into the atmosphere. Obviously, it has not worked. The number of emissions is still increasing. So I will not ask them for anything again. Instead, I will explain to people all over the world that our politicians have failed us."

"Some people may simply let things take their course, but not me. Especially when it comes to things that worry or sadden me. I remember when I was younger, at school we were shown films about plastic in the ocean, about starving polar bears, and so on. I cried while watching them. My classmates were upset too, but when the film ended, they switched their attention to something else. I cannot do that."

"Young people must understand that their future is in danger, and they must do something about it. Get angry and turn your anger into action."

Public Reaction

"I was struck by the emotions that surged when young people spoke here," French President Emmanuel Macron said at the EU summit. "I want to listen to them. I think no politician can remain deaf when hearing such a cry for justice from one generation to another."

Elon Musk is among Greta's fans. "This 16-year-old girl has better arguments and a bigger heart than most political leaders," the SpaceX founder wrote on social media.

Of course, there are also critics, and enough of them, who call her a "hysterical teenager," as Sky News Australia host Chris Kenny put it. A candidate for leadership of the U.S. Republican right calls Greta a "prophet in short pants," and his colleague Guillaume Larrivé dubbed the girl an "apocalypse guru."

Probably the furthest went Dinesh D'Souza, a political commentator with conservative views, who compared Thunberg's activities to Nazi propaganda.

"Children, mostly blonde, rosy-cheeked girls with pigtails, were often used by the Nazis for propaganda. An old Goebbels technique!" Dinesh wrote on Twitter. "It seems today's progressive Left is still learning from the early Left of the 1930s."

Vasily Obaraz