She may only be 18, but Greta Thunberg has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize three times, famously sailed to North America to attend the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit, and triggered a school climate strike movement around the world (whereby students skip Friday classes to participate in climate protests).
Her speech at the 2019 summit in which she exclaimed "how dare you" stopped world leaders and summit-goers in their tracks.
"People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction. And all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you! You are failing us" - Greta Thunberg
Accusing world leaders of stealing her dreams and her childhood by their inaction on climate change, she said: "This is all wrong. I shouldn't be up here. 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. And yet I'm one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction. And all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you! You are failing us."
However, it was her speech at the 2018 United Nations Climate Change Conference that went viral and made her a household name. Aged 15, she said world leaders were "not mature enough to tell it like it is" and said that the climate crisis was "the biggest crisis humanity has ever faced".
Since then, Greta has continued to make waves for her environmental activism and has received numerous honours and awards, including an honorary Fellowship of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society.
The Swedish teenager has also featured in Time's 100 most influential people and Forbes' list of The World's 100 Most Powerful Women.
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