At the United Nations during the Climate Action Summit on Monday, the 16-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg gave an emotional speech appealing to world leaders about the grave need to stop the effects of climate change.
“You all come to us young people for hope. How dare you?” she said. “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.” Thunberg tearfully continued to condemn what she sees as the lack of action on part of leaders around the world to halt climate change, adding “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?”
Thunberg spoke at the UN following her appearance at the Global Climate Strike in New York City on Friday where she addressed the crowd of protestors, saying, “Our house is on fire. We will do everything in our power to stop this crisis from getting worse.”
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