On September 23rd, a 16- year-old Swedish climate change activist called Greta Thunberg delivered an impassioned and emotional speech at the 2019 United Nations (UN) Climate Action Summit. In her speech, she condemned the world leaders for their indifference toward the environment and appealed the urgent need to stop the effects of climate change. The summit was held at the headquarters of the UN in New York City, with over 60 countries in attendance. It aimed to advance climate action for reducing greenhouse gas emissions to prevent the mean global temperature from rising by more than 1.5 degrees above preindustrial levels. A week before Thunberg’s speech in which 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. We are in the beginning of mass extinction. And all you can talk about is money and fairytales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!”, climate protests were held across the world in 150 countries. The protests were a part of the school protests for the climate movement, also initiated by Thunberg in August 2018, and later joined by thousands of schools and students around the world. Thunberg’s speech inspired some more protests in the weeks following and in some Thunberg led the strike herself as she did at the University of Iowa protest held on October 4th. Thunberg will also participate in the UN Climate Change Conference in Chile in December.
