Escorted by a colorful flotilla from the Statue of Liberty, the sailboat docked among the yachts of the North Cove Marina, a stone’s throw from the luxurious malls and skyscrapers of Manhattan’s Financial District. The Swedish Greta Thunberg, 16, arrived in New York on Wednesday afternoon, after a fortnight crossing the Atlantic aboard the Malizia II. The journey, which began on August 14 in Plymouth (Great Britain), ended with the applause of several hundred supporters, including many children and adolescents, who waited hours under a gray sky to welcome it. In a few months, the young Swedish activist has established herself as a leading figure in the movement to fight against climate change. Tens of thousands of young people respond every Friday to his call to skip school to draw attention to the climate emergency.
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“Listen to science”
“The ground still trembles a little for me”, Barely disembarked Greta Thunberg confessed to a short press conference. Before announcing his participation in the youth march for the climate on Friday in New York, and several militant actions before his arrival at the UN for the climate summit on September 23. “Our war against nature must end”, she replied, indicating to have been able to admire “The power and beauty of the ocean” during the crossing, and having been informed on the boat of the fires that are devastating the Amazon. “The climate crisis is a global crisis, the most serious crisis facing humanity”, she declared. Calling for union and mobilization, she sent a message of encouragement to the activists: “Even if all this may seem hopeless, continue: you make the difference”, she insisted.
“It’s funny how everyone asks me about Donald Trump, she answered a journalist’s question about the US president’s climate skepticism. The only thing I could tell him is listen to science. But obviously he doesn’t. If no one could convince him of the climate emergency, why was I doing it? ” Invited to the UN, Thunberg, diagnosed with Asperger’s autism at the age of 12, had refused to fly to avoid generating carbon emissions. She regretted that the attention was “Focused on [elle] and not on the problem as a whole ”. This earned her many detractors (she would be manipulated by NGOs, by her parents, by political parties …), who did not fail to mock her boat trip, several members of the crew having planned to return to Europe by plane. “But if it can help draw attention to the climate crisis, then I will use this opportunity”, the teenager defended herself. In a tweet, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio claimed Thunberg had “Showed more climate leadership in one crossing of the ocean than the entire Trump administration since taking office.”
