Environmental activist Greta Thungberg has been named as TIME‘s person of the year for 2019.
The 16-year-old has made headlines all over the world this year for holding world leaders accountable for climate change.
Her tearful speech at the UN climate summit in September brought global warming to the world’s stage, provoking people all over the world to stand up and take note.
‘You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words.’ These powerful words are etched in the minds of millions, as she accused world leaders of promoting ‘fairytales of eternal economic growth’ over resolving the current climate breakdown.
Thunberg’s global movement began in August 2018, when she skipped school to camp outside the Swedish Parliament holding a sign translating as ‘School Strike for Climate’.
She has since addressed the heads of state at the UN, where she delivered her iconic speech, met with the Pope, traded blows with US President Donald Trump and inspired people all over the world to join in on a global climate strike on September 20, 2019.
The 16-year-old has even had her speech remixed into Fatboy Slim’s ‘Right Here, Right Now‘ and successfully fuelled a deep-seated rage among middle-aged, male climate change-deniers.
Thunberg is wise beyond her years and she speaks with passion and emotion while capturing the attention of everyone in earshot: something that has earned her a place on the world stage, and quite rightly so.
After narrowly missing out to a 2019 Nobel Peace Prize, there’s absolutely no doubt the teen is more than deserving of this accolade.
Congratulations, Greta. A worthy winner by all accounts.
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Emma Rosemurgey is an NCTJ trained Journalist who started her career by producing The Royal Rosemurgey newspaper in 2004, which kept her family up to date with the goings on of her sleepy north east village. She graduated from the University of Central Lancashire in Preston and started her career in regional newspapers before joining Tyla (formerly Pretty 52) in 2017, and progressing onto UNILAD in 2019.