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Greta Thunberg Wants Out of the Spotlight, Pass Climate Change Mic to Someone Else

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg became famous back in 2018, when she started protesting in front of the Swedish parliament. It was, at first, a one-person school strike, but the young activist managed to raise attention to the issue and spent the last few years in the spotlight.
Greta Thunberg during her 2019 voyage on a zero-emissions yacht 10 photos
Photo: Greta Thunberg on Twitter
Greta Thunberg is Person of the Year 2019Greta Thunberg has a sense of humor, claps back at Donald TrumpExtinction Rebellion protesters will often glue themselves to trains, buildings or among themselves during protestsExtinction Rebellion protesters will often glue themselves to trains, buildings or among themselves during protestsExtinction Rebellion protesters will often glue themselves to trains, buildings or among themselves during protestsExtinction Rebellion protesters will often glue themselves to trains, buildings or among themselves during protestsExtinction Rebellion protesters will often glue themselves to trains, buildings or among themselves during protestsExtinction Rebellion protesters will often glue themselves to trains, buildings or among themselves during protestsExtinction Rebellion protesters will often glue themselves to trains, buildings or among themselves during protests
Greta started a movement called Fridays for Future, and was later named Time Magazine's person of the year in 2019. During 2019, she traveled the world in the least-impactful (from a CO2 emissions standpoint) form, to speak at various events about climate change.

Some of her speeches, as well as reactions during her speeches, turned the young climate activist into a meme. Many car enthusiasts decided to make fun of the activist with Asperger's' syndrome, who now mentions the daily average concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere (measured in ppm) at the time of her birth on her Twitter account. It was 375 ppm at the time (back in 2003), and it got to 416 ppm back in February 2020.

Now, in a recent interview with the Germans at Welt, Greta stated that she wants to leave the microphone to someone else. While Greta Thunberg intends to be a climate activist in the future, she wants a different role, which will be in the background, instead of being at the forefront of fighting climate change.

It is an unusual stance for someone who has made themselves known across the world for their position on climate, as many who dreamt of being in her shoes might have attempted to remain in the spotlight. Now, Greta thinks that “there are other people who need to be heard more urgently,” and those people are in “the Global South.

In case you are wondering what the 19-year-old Swedish climate activist is talking about, the Global South refers to more than half the world and includes all the countries below the Equator, as well as a few above, except for Australia. Think of regions of Latin America, Africa, Oceania, and Asia, which are more prone to the effects of climate change than North America or Europe.

Moreover, in the same interview, Greta decided to present her point of view, which she underlined that is not one of “Fridays for Future,” regarding nuclear power plants.

According to Thunberg, "there is an important difference between building new nuclear energy power plants and leaving existing ones running,” and her personal note was that it “is a mistake to stop them when coal is the alternative.” Ironically, climate activists have protested against nuclear power plants for years.
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Editor's note: For illustration purposes, the photo gallery shows images of Greta Thunberg, as well as images of other climate change protesters from an organization that is not linked to the Swedish activist.

About the author: Sebastian Toma
Sebastian Toma profile photo

Sebastian's love for cars began at a young age. Little did he know that a career would emerge from this passion (and that it would not, sadly, involve being a professional racecar driver). In over fourteen years, he got behind the wheel of several hundred vehicles and in the offices of the most important car publications in his homeland.
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