Celebrity environmentalist Greta Thunberg is urging media to pay more attention to other young climate activists.
The 16-year-old Swede has drawn huge crowds with her appearances at protests and conferences over the past year.
“Our stories have been told over and over again,” Thunberg said as she spoke Monday at a U.N. climate meeting in Madrid alongside prominent German activist Luisa Neubauer. “There is no need to listen to us anymore.”
Climate activist Greta Thunberg applauds other activists before giving a news conference at the COP25 climate summit in Madrid, Spain, Monday, Dec. 9, 2019. Thunberg is in Madrid where a global U.N.-sponsored climate change conference is taking place. (AP PhotoAndrea Comas)
Thunberg has been the center of attention at the climate talks ever since she sailed back to Europe last week, having shunned air travel for environmental reasons. She left a protest march through the Spanish capital early after being mobbed by crowds of protesters and reporters Friday.
“It is people especially from the global south, especially from indigenous communities, who need to tell their stories,” she said before handing the mic to other young activists from the United States, the Philippines, Russia, Uganda, Chine and the Marshall Islands.
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Climate activist Greta Thunberg takes part in a news conference at the COP25 climate summit in Madrid, Spain, Monday, Dec. 9, 2019. Thunberg is in Madrid where a global U.N.-sponsored climate change conference is taking place. (AP PhotoAndrea Comas)
Climate activist Greta Thunberg, centre, leaves the demonstration during a march in Madrid on Friday Dec. 6, 2019. Thunberg arrived in Madrid Friday to join thousands of other young people in a march to demand world leaders take real action against climate change. (AP PhotoAndrea Comas)