Greta Thunberg, environmental activist and student leader

Greta Thunberg (born 2003) is a Swedish environmental activist and the originator of the climate strike protests that have engaged youth around the world. She was born in Stockholm to opera singer Malena Emman and actor Svante Thunberg.

Her activism began at the age of 8, when she first learned about climate change. She implored her parents to lower the family’s carbon footprint, and her mother’s willingness to give up international travel for her opera career became a motivation for Greta’s future activism.

In 2018, Thunberg won a climate change essay contest that was published in a local newspaper. That led to an invitation to attend meetings of a local environmental advocacy group, where the suggestion was raised that students could strike for climate change. When Thunberg couldn’t find any classmates to participate, she decided to protest alone. On August 20, 2018, she began her school strike for environmental accountability outside of the Riksdag, the Swedish parliament; she refused to go to school until the Swedish general election on September 9, and demanding that the government reduce carbon emissions in accordance with the Paris Agreement. Thanks to posting her strike on social media, and photos of her posted by a climate-focused social media company, Thunberg’s protest went viral. After the Swedish elections on September 9, she continued to strike on Fridays, and people began to join her. Her climate strike caught on throughout Europe, and Thunberg began to take part in other demonstrations and make speeches.

In February 2019, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres endorsed her strikes, and in June, Thunberg spoke to U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) about what would come to be known as the Green New Deal. In August of this year, Thunberg, who is against the carbon cost of airplane flights, sailed from Plymouth, England to New York City aboard a solar-and-turbine-powered racing yacht. While in Manhattan, she addressed the U.N. Climate Action Summit and gave a passionate speech demanding attention be paid to the global climate crisis. On September 25, 2019, she was named a recipient of the Right Livelihood Award, known as the “alternative Nobel Prize,” given by the Right Livelihood Foundation in Stockholm. She has also been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.