Teen climate activist Greta Thunberg is Time’s Person of the Year
.<a href=»https://twitter.com/GretaThunberg?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw»>@GretaThunberg</a> is TIME’s 2019 Person of the Year <a href=»https://twitter.com/hashtag/TIMEPOY?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw»>#TIMEPOY</a> <a href=»https://t.co/YZ7U6Up76v»>https://t.co/YZ7U6Up76v</a> <a href=»https://t.co/SWALBfeGl6″>pic.twitter.com/SWALBfeGl6</a>
—@TIME
Greta Thunberg, the teen activist from Sweden who has urged immediate action to address what’s being called a global climate crisis, on Wednesday was named Time magazine’s Person of the Year for 2019.
Thunberg, 16, was lauded by Time for starting an environmental campaign in August 2018 that became a global movement, initially skipping school and camping out in front of the Swedish parliament to demand action.
«In the 16 months since, she has addressed heads of state at the UN, met with the Pope, sparred with the president of the United States and inspired four million people to join the global climate strike on Sept. 20, 2019, in what was the largest climate demonstration in human history,» the magazine said.
«Margaret Atwood compared her to Joan of Arc. After noticing a hundredfold increase in its usage, lexicographers at Collins Dictionary named Thunberg’s pioneering idea, climate strike, the word of the year,» Time said.
Thunberg, who turns 17 in January, is in Madrid at a United Nations climate summit, where world leaders are wrangling over how to implement a 2015 Paris agreement designed to avert potentially catastrophic global warming.
WATCH: Greta Thunberg speaking today in Madrid
In a speech before the Time honour was announced, she was typically blunt in her assessment of politicians’ efforts.
«It seems to have turned into some kind of opportunity for countries to negotiate loopholes and to avoid raising their ambition,» she said on stage, drawing applause from an audience that included dozens of supporters.
«I’m sure that if people heard what was going on and what was said … during these meetings, they would be outraged.»
Former U.S. vice-president Al Gore, a longtime environmentalist, said the magazine made a «brilliant choice» in choosing the reluctant celebrity.
«Greta embodies the moral authority of the youth activist movement demanding that we act immediately to solve the climate crisis. She is an inspiration to me and to people across the world.»
Praise and pans from the powerful
Thunberg’s uncompromising stance has brought her into confrontation with some of the world’s most powerful people.
One of them is U.S. President Donald Trump, another finalist for Time’s Person of the Year.
A video of Thunberg giving him what media described as a «death stare» at a UN climate summit in New York in September went viral on social media.
Trump has questioned climate science and has challenged every major U.S. regulation aimed at fighting climate change.
During a speech at around the same time, Thunberg bristled with anger.
«This is all wrong. I shouldn’t be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean, yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you?» she told delegates.
«You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words.»
After the speech, Trump derisively tweeted she «seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future.»
WATCH: Thunberg, in her own words, at the Montreal climate march
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro this week called Thunberg a «brat» after she criticized mounting violence against Indigenous people in which two Amazon tribesmen were shot dead.
Other finalists for Time’s Person of the Year were:
- U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
- The anonymous whistleblower who helped spur an investigation into Trump’s dealings with Ukraine.
- The Hong Kong protesters who have agitated for democratic reforms and against a controversial extradition bill spearheaded by mainland China.
- Hong Kong’s Joshua Wong, who has faced prison time related to his activism there.
«You inspire me and many people across the world … Let’s fight together to save our home, our planet,» Wong tweeted about Thunberg.
Last year’s Time winners, cited for being «The Guardians,» included slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the staff of the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Md., where five people were shot to death, Philippine journalist Maria Ressa, and Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo.
