Just days after Greta Thunberg stunned the world with a powerful speech about the climate emergency we are currently facing, the teenager has revealed the ‘funniest’ offer she’s ever received.
On Monday (September 23), the 16-year-old spoke at the United Nations Climate Summit to call out the older generation for betraying young people like herself with a lack of action.
Her impassioned speech drew criticism from some – in particular, the President of the United States – but support from an altogether different Republican, Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The actor-turned-politician reportedly offered to loan his electric car to the teenage climate activist to enable her to drive to Canada for a march against climate change, as per Newsweek.
Greta told Scandinavian talk show Skavlan, which has been filming in New York this week, that the offer from the Hollywood star and former California governor was ‘one of the funniest’ she’d ever received.
The 16-year-old explained, as translated by Newsweek:
A lot of people have offered to lend us, for example, their electric car. One of the funniest offers I’ve received is that Arnold Schwarzenegger has offered me to lend his electric car if I want to.
Host Fredrik Skavlan then said it had been confirmed that Greta and her father will take Schwarzenegger’s car to Montreal, Canada, where she is set to attend the protest against climate change on Friday (September 27).
The conversation on the talk show then turned to Greta’s relationship with Donald Trump, after the latter took to Twitter to make a dig at the teenage activist – referring to the 16-year-old as a ‘very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future’.
When asked about the POTUS’s tweet by Skavlan, Greta said:
I mean, you can interpret it in different ways, many different ways. I knew that sometime he is probably going to say something about me and it was like, it doesn’t make any difference in a way.
She then responded to the host’s question of whether she saw any sarcasm in the president’s tweet with the following comment: ‘Of course I do… but of course he’s going to write that’.
Of course, the interview couldn’t end without mentioning in some way the meme which circulated after the summit, which showed Greta glaring in the direction of Trump.
If you need a recap, here it is:
Documentarian Michael Moore, who had joined the climate activist on the stage, drew a laugh from the audience when he suggested Trump could ‘feel the eyes on the back of his head,’ although Greta said she was simply caught in a moment of shock.
The 16-year-old explained:
I was stopped because suddenly he came in and security went, ‘You have to step to the side.’ And suddenly he came in. I think I was very shocked.
Again, in her short yet sweet response, the teenager has showed herself to be more mature and composed in these situations than the 73-year-old Trump, who currently holds the most powerful position in the world.
You can watch a clip of the interview below:
Greta continues to inspire an entire generation of young people, doing everything in her power to change the way the world works for the better, while simultaneously holding world leaders to account – and we love to see it.
You go, Greta.
The entire interview will air on Friday, September 27.
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A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).