Greta Thunberg, who seems to have understood the importance of climate change at an early age, is a 16-year-old Swedish environmental activist born on January 3, 2003, in Stockholm, to opera singer Malena Ernman and actor Svante Thunberg. In a very short span, Thunberg became the global face of the growing youth movement against climate inaction.

In August 2018, Greta Thunberg started a school strike for the climate outside the Swedish Parliament next to a hand-written sign: "School Strike for Climate". Since then, she has gone global, striking a chord with young people dissatisfied by the slow progress in climate change mitigation. At just 16, she inspired youths in dozens of countries to strike from school in ‘Fridays For Future’ protests.

Thunberg has spoken at climate conventions in Stockholm, Helsinki, Brussels and London. She has also attended the United Nations COP24 where she addressed the Secretary-General and made a speech that went viral and was shared many million times. In January 2019, she was invited to the World Economic Forum in Davos, where her speeches again made a worldwide impact.

In September 2019, Greta Thunberg spoke at the UN Climate Change Summit, where she accused the world leaders of betraying her generation by failing to tackle greenhouse gas emissions. Her utterance of the phase "how dare you?” four times in her speech was impactful and caught the attention of the global audience.

Thunberg detailed that various solutions of climate conservation were being missed, further heightening the risk of "irreversible chain reactions beyond human control”. She also added that in her talks with leaders, she had been told that the youth were being heard and the urgency was understood.

Thunberg lives a low-carbon life — she is vegan, and doesn't prefer air travel because of the carbon footprint it leaves. She has taken a year off from school to pursue her campaigning. She has been named one of the world’s most influential teens by the TIME magazine. Greta's family has also made changes to their lifestyle.

Greta Thunberg

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