Teen activist Greta Thunberg takes climate protest to Trump

Swedish youth climate activist Greta Thunberg, center in blue, joins other young climate activists Friday for a climate strike outside the White House in Washington, Friday, Sept. 13, 2019. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Swedish youth climate activist Greta Thunberg, center in blue, joins other young climate activists Friday for a climate strike outside the White House in Washington, Friday, Sept. 13, 2019. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Published Sep 13, 2019

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WASHINGTON - Swedish teenager Greta

Thunberg, who has shot to global fame for inspiring worldwide

student strikes to promote action against climate change, took

her mission to President Donald Trump’s doorstep on Friday with

a protest outside the White House.

Hundreds of mostly young people gathered across the street

from the White House to meet her carrying signs reading "People

or Profit?" and "Warming!", chanting "This is a crisis, act like

it!" and "Business as usual is not enough."

Jennifer Morash, a doctoral candidate in plant science,

brought her daughter Adeline, 9, to the rally after getting

permission from her school in Maryland. 

"I just want to make

sure we all have a happy future and for people to take climate

change seriously," Adeline said."

Many protesters laid down and kept still for 11 minutes for

a "die in" representing 11 years they said that scientists

believe the world has to make changes needed to stave off

dangerous climate change.

The demonstration marked the first high-profile event of

Thunberg's six-day visit to Washington, intended to pressure the

Trump administration ahead of a United Nations climate summit,

where world leaders will be asked to ramp up their-carbon

cutting ambitions to fend off global warming.

Trump is among a small minority of global leaders who has

openly questioned the science of climate change. He has

announced his intention to withdraw the United States from the

Paris Climate Agreement – a global pact to stem the rise in

global temperatures - and has a policy of maximizing American

production of fossil fuels.

Thunberg has said she does not believe she can convince

Trump or other climate change doubters that global warming is

real, but hopes they will take briefings from “actual scientists

and experts in this area.” 

The 16-year-old activist last year started skipping school

every Friday to demonstrate outside Sweden's parliament and is

bound for New York later this month, where she will take part in

the U.N. climate summit.

Prior to that, Thunberg will address Congress on climate

change and later join Democratic lawmakers and plaintiffs in the

Juliana v the United States case - in which a group of young

people sued the government for failing to address climate change

– at the Supreme Court.

Thunberg was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize earlier this

year after the number of students taking part in the “Fridays

for Future” school strikes broke 2 million across 135 countries. She was named one of the world’s most influential people by

Time magazine in May.

Conservative and far-right lawmakers in Europe have

ridiculed Thunberg, mocking her as a “guru of the apocalypse”

and a “Nobel prize of fear.” She was also described as a “deeply

disturbed messiah” leading a “cult” in an opinion column by

conservative Australian commentator Andrew Bolt.

Thunberg arrived in the United States last month on a racing

yacht equipped with solar panels and underwater electricity

turbines to ensure that it left no carbon footprint. She is

taking a year off from school to travel around the Americas. 

Reuters

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