Climate Activist Greta Thunberg Set To Sail Across The Atlantic For A Tour Around The Americas

Jul 31, 2019 by apost team

16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg from Sweden has just revealed plans to sail from Europe to North America next month. The teenager will complete a month-long tour across the Americas. 

Thunberg is best known for starting a strike from school in Stockholm last summer to protest the Swedish government’s lack of action when it comes to combating climate change. The strike takes place each Friday since and has spread across the globe, with an estimated 1.6 million students taking part in March. 

The 16-year-old is taking a year off from school to further her cause. She is hoping to meet activists on the frontlines of the climate change movement during her tour in the Americas.

Her journey will begin in the U.K. in mid-August and she is set to visit Canada, the U.S, Mexico, and Chile. She will be attending demonstrations in New York City on the week of September the 20th, which is Climate week and is scheduled to speak at the United Nations Climate Summit on September 23rd. 

“During the past year, millions of young people have raised their voice to make world leaders wake up to the climate and ecological emergency. Over the next months, the events in New York and Santiago de Chile will show if they have listened," Thunberg said to Time.

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For her Americas trip, TIME stated she will be traveling by a racing boat that releases zero carbon, and the trip from the UK to North America will take approximately two weeks. The boat includes solar panels and turbines underwater that produce electricity onboard the vessel. 

“We still have a window of time when things are in our own hands. But that window is closing fast. That is why I have decided to make this trip now,” the teenager said in a statement. 

When speaking to TIME, Thunberg revealed she avoids air travel due to the high levels of carbon emissions it entails. Instead, she travels by train within Europe when necessary for speaking engagements.

"Together with many other young people across the Americas and the world, I will be there, even if the journey will be long and challenging. We will make our voices heard. It is our future on the line, and we must at least have a say in it.”

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