Teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg is TIME’s 2019 Person of the Year, the magazine announced on Wednesday.
The 16-year-old, who has become the public face of climate change activism since leading school strikes in her home country of Sweden, topped President Donald Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to win the accolade. “I’d like to tell my grandchildren that we did everything we could,” she told TIME magazine. “And we did it for them and for the generations to come.”
Iran vows ‘decisive’ self-defense at UN after Trump kills supreme leader in Operation Epic Fury
Concerns rise over DHS shutdown in shadow of Iran strikes: ‘Now would be a good time’ to end it
Man confesses to killing 7-year-old while on the lam after DNA links him to 30-year cold case: authorities
Obama official who backed Iran deal sparks online outrage with reaction to Trump’s strike: ‘Sit this one out’
Bill Clinton’s credibility threatened by decades of scandals amid grilling over Epstein ties
Trump says Khamenei is dead: ‘The single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their Country’
Monitoring the situation: White House releases photos of Trump, Rubio and team being briefed on Iran operation
Iran Supreme Leader Targeted, Believed Killed, in Sweeping US-Israeli Strikes
The US and Israel attacked Iran: What we know
Trump finds unlikely Democratic allies on decision to strike Iran
Democrats buck party leaders to defend Trump’s ‘decisive action’ on Iran
Nancy Guthrie missing: Forensic scientist encourages new investigative approach since case ‘isn’t cold yet’
FBI raises counterterror teams to high alert amid Iran tensions
Bipartisan revolt targets Trump’s war powers after massive Iran strikes
Iran strikes erase ‘space’ between Trump and Netanyahu, insiders say
.@GretaThunberg is TIME's 2019 Person of the Year #TIMEPOY https://t.co/YZ7U6Up76v pic.twitter.com/SWALBfeGl6
— TIME (@TIME) December 11, 2019
TIME’s editor-in-chief, Edward Felsenthal, unveiled this year’s winner on NBC’s Today Show, describing Thunberg as the “biggest voice on the biggest issue facing the planet.”
“She became the biggest voice on the biggest issue facing the planet this year.” TIME Editor-in-Chief @efelsenthal talks about why TIME chose @GretaThunberg to be Person of the Year.
Thunberg, 16, is also the youngest person to ever receive the honor. pic.twitter.com/eTvLAiRtFW
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) December 11, 2019
Iran vows ‘decisive’ self-defense at UN after Trump kills supreme leader in Operation Epic Fury
Concerns rise over DHS shutdown in shadow of Iran strikes: ‘Now would be a good time’ to end it
Man confesses to killing 7-year-old while on the lam after DNA links him to 30-year cold case: authorities
Obama official who backed Iran deal sparks online outrage with reaction to Trump’s strike: ‘Sit this one out’
Bill Clinton’s credibility threatened by decades of scandals amid grilling over Epstein ties
Trump says Khamenei is dead: ‘The single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their Country’
Monitoring the situation: White House releases photos of Trump, Rubio and team being briefed on Iran operation
Iran Supreme Leader Targeted, Believed Killed, in Sweeping US-Israeli Strikes
The US and Israel attacked Iran: What we know
Trump finds unlikely Democratic allies on decision to strike Iran
Democrats buck party leaders to defend Trump’s ‘decisive action’ on Iran
Nancy Guthrie missing: Forensic scientist encourages new investigative approach since case ‘isn’t cold yet’
FBI raises counterterror teams to high alert amid Iran tensions
Bipartisan revolt targets Trump’s war powers after massive Iran strikes
Iran strikes erase ‘space’ between Trump and Netanyahu, insiders say
“She also represents a broader generational shift in the culture that we’re seeing from the campuses of Hong Kong to the protests in Chile to Parkland, Florida, where the students marched against gun violence where young people are demanding change urgently,” said Felsenthal.
Thunberg garnered headlines earlier this year for sailing — rather than flying — from England to New York City to attended the United Nations climate summit. During the conference, Thunberg raised eyebrows for a pointed speech in which she angerly accused world leaders of robbing her and other young people of their future due to their inaction on so-called global warming.
“This is all wrong. I shouldn’t be up here,” she said in her remarks. “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!”
Thunberg and a dozen other activists also lodged a complaint with the U.N. that accused France and four other countries of failing to adequately address the issue, a move that drew scorn from French President Emmanuel Macron.
Speaking at the time with Europe 1, Macron branded the complaint as “very radical” and warned it would likely “antagonize societies.”
“All the movements of our youth — or our not-so-young — are helpful,” explained the globalist leader. “But they must now focus on those who are furthest away, those who are seeking to block the way.”
Thunberg is the youngest person ever to be named the magazine’s “Person of the Year.”
TIME selected “The Guardians and the War on Truth” — a group of imprisoned and killed journalists — as its “Person of the Year” in 2018.
Story cited here.
