Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swede and face of the youth climate change movement, arrived in New York City on Wednesday after setting sail two weeks on a solar-powered racing yacht from England. A substantial crowd greeted her after she was escorted into New York harbor by 17 sailboats — one for each of the U.N.’s “sustainable development” goals.
The @UN has sent out one boat for each of the 17 sustainable development goal to greet us! Thank you! pic.twitter.com/AU5ZSVj5vD
— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) August 28, 2019
“It is insane that a 16-year-old would have to cross the Atlantic Ocean to make a stand,” Thunberg said at a press conference after she arrived around 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time. “The climate and ecological crisis is a global crisis, the biggest crisis that humanity has ever faced, and if we don’t manage to work together and to cooperate and to work together despite our differences, then we will fail.”
She told reporters that fossil fuels should be kept in the ground and that the world needs to “stop its war on nature.”
Thunberg gained international attention just more than a year ago when she called on students around the world to take part in a school walkout to protest climate change, a movement she has dubbed #FridayforFuture.
She said at the press conference that the Guardian newspaper covered that she will join the ongoing school strike at the United Nations headquarters in New York City on Friday: