Shortly before Greta Thunberg was chosen as Time magazine's 2019 Person of the Year, the 16-year-old delivered a searing speech at a U.N. climate summit in Madrid.
In it, Thunberg admonished world leaders for failing to act with the urgency required to fix the climate crisis, calling many of the proposed pledges from wealthy countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions inadequate.
"This is not leading. This is misleading," Thunberg said, noting that "most of these pledges do not include aviation, shipping, imported and exported goods, and consumption." She also acknowledged that these pledges let countries offset their emissions elsewhere, and that summits like the one she was attending could turn into opportunities for countries to "negotiate loopholes." She then pointed out the "clever ways" countries avoid action, like double counting emissions reductions. "This has to stop," Thunberg said.
Later in her speech, she said that the "real danger" comes from politicians and CEOs using "clever accounting and creative PR" rather than "real action."
She called out those with power for not treating the climate crisis as an emergency.
"In an emergency, you change your behavior," Thunberg said. "If there is a child standing in the middle of the road, and cars are coming at full speed, you don't look away because it's too uncomfortable. You immediately run out and rescue that child."
Thunberg ended her speech on a note of hope. "Every great change throughout history has come from the people," she said. "We do not have to wait. We can start the change right now. We, the people."
Topics Activism Social Good
