Congratulations to Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old activist named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year 2019.
The Swedish schoolgirl who inspired an international movement to fight climate change is the youngest recipient of the magazine’s long-running tradition, which began in 1927.
Wow, this is unbelievable! I share this great honour with everyone in the #FridaysForFuture movement and climate activists everywhere. #climatestrike https://t.co/2t2JyA6AnM pic.twitter.com/u4JUD4cgCz
— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) December 11, 2019
Last year, Thunberg was just a pigtailed kid camping outside Sweden’s parliament, demanding reduced carbon emissions.
Now, she’s a ponytailed phenom who’s emboldened students across the world to hold climate strikes.
Motivated by the Parkland teen activists in Florida, Thunberg created the Fridays For The Future movement, trading weekly school lessons for regular protests.
Since August 2018, she has spoken at TEDxStockholm, addressed the United Nations Climate Action Summit, and given a talk to the World Economic Forum at Davos.
In March, she was nominated as a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize [16-year-old climate activist nominated for Peace Prize].
“Climate activist Greta Thunberg has succeeded in turning vague anxieties about the planet into a worldwide movement calling for global change,” Time said of the teenager.
Fresh from speaking at a UN climate change summit in Madrid, Thunberg tweeted her reaction to the tribute (which has previously gone to controversial figures Adolf Hitler [1938], Joseph Stalin [1939 and 1942], and Ayatollah Khomeini [1979]).
“Wow, this is unbelievable,” she wrote on Wednesday, adding that she shares this “great honor” with “everyone in the #FridaysForFuture movement and climate activists everywhere.”
“Thunberg is not a leader of any political party or advocacy group. She is neither the first to sound the alarm about the climate crisis nor the most qualified to fix it,” according to Time reporters Charlotte Alter, Suyin Haynes, and Justin Worland. “She is not a scientist or a politician. She has no access to traditional levers of influence: she’s not a billionaire or a princess, a pop star, or even an adult.”
“She is an ordinary teenage girl who, in summoning the courage to speak truth to power, became the icon of a generation,” the magazine article continued. “By clarifying an abstract danger with piercing outrage, Thunberg became the most compelling voice on the most important issue facing the planet.”
The busy teen took about five seconds to acknowledge the profile before returning to her regularly scheduled protest programming, urging folks to join Friday’s climate strike in Torino, Italy.
Time magazine also recognized public servants as Guardians of the Year, the U.S. women’s soccer team as Athlete of the Year, Lizzo as Entertainer of the Year (yaaas, queen!), and Disney CEO Bob Iger as Businessperson of the Year.
More on Geek.com:
- Oceans Are Running Out of Oxygen Due to Climate Change
- Climate Protesters Delay Harvard-Yale Football Game
- Report: Climate Change Is Making Us Sick
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