16-Year-Old Climate Activist Slams World Leaders At United Nations Panel

By Bill Galluccio

September 23, 2019

World Leaders Gather For United Nations Climate Summit

Swedish teen activist Greta Thunberg is demanding that world leaders take immediate action to combat climate change. Speaking during a summit on climate change at the United Nations in New York City, Thunberg told world leaders that her generation will judge their failures. The 16-year-old said that science has been "crystal clear" for more than 30 years, yet leaders have done nothing.

"You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words — and yet, I'm one of the lucky ones," Thunberg said. "People are suffering, people are dying."

Thunberg, along with 15 other children filed a complaint with the United Nations accusing the leaders of five countries - Germany, France, Brazil, Argentina, and Turkey - of violating their human rights by failing to address the issue of climate change.

"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."

Photo: Getty Images

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