[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old environmental activist on Monday, September 23, questioned heads of state, “How dare you…” at the UN’s headquarters in New York for Flagship Climate Action Summit.

 With tears in her eyes and her face flushed, the young activist – who began skipping school in her native Sweden a year ago to protest inaction on climate change – chastised the world leaders who had gathered in New York. She accused them of robbing her generation of a future by focusing on money and not on fighting global warming.

Thunberg said she should be in school in her native Sweden rather than at the UN telling world leaders what to do to address climate change.

 “This is all wrong – I shouldn’t be up here,” she said. “I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to us young people for hope – how dare you. You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words,” said Thunberg who traveled for two weeks on a solar-powered sailboat to reach the United States this month. 

“People are suffering, people are dying, and entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are at the beginning of a mass extinction and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of endless economic growth. How dare you!” she questioned.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_raw_html]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[/vc_raw_html][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Listen to the science, she told them, which has been “crystal clear” for 30 years. She admonished them for leaving her generation with the task of sucking billions of tons of carbon dioxide out of the air “with technologies that barely exist.”

“For more than 30 years the science has been crystal clear,” she said. “How dare you continue to look away and come here saying you are doing enough when the politics and solutions needed are still nowhere in sight. You say you hear us and that you understand the urgency, but no matter how sad and angry I am, I do not want to believe that, because if you really understood the situation and still kept on failing to act, then you would be evil, and that I refuse to believe.”

Her remarks ended with a warning: “You’re failing us, but the young people are starting to understand your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us, I say, we will never forgive you.”[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_raw_html]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[/vc_raw_html][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Thunberg became the face of a global movement of young people demanding that their elders safeguard their planet’s future. On Friday, September 20, millions of young people all over the world joined Thunberg in a climate strike that she led from New York.

Thunberg continued her campaign Monday, as she and 15 other young people filed a legal complaint with the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child arguing that major countries like Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany and Turkey have known about the risks of climate change for decades but have failed to take sufficient action to curb their emissions. The petitioners range in age from 8 to 17 and hail from Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, India, the Marshall Islands, Nigeria, Palau, South Africa, Sweden, Tunisia and the United States.

Leaders from around the world, including French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, have gathered in New York this week to make new pledges to curb global-warming emissions. U.S. President Donald Trump, a denier of Climate change, who wasn’t originally scheduled to attend, made a surprise appearance at the summit on Monday.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]