5 Scathing Lines From Greta Thunberg in UN Speech

'How dare you!' climate activist tells world leaders
By Newser Editors,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 23, 2019 12:59 PM CDT
5 Scathing Lines From Greta Thunberg in UN Speech
Environmental activist Greta Thunberg of Sweden addresses the Climate Action Summit in the United Nations General Assembly, at U.N. headquarters, Monday, Sept. 23, 2019.   (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)

Teen climate activist Greta Thunberg spoke at the UN Monday and delivered a blistering critique of world leaders' efforts on climate change. The 16-year-old from Sweden addressed the UN Climate Action Summit and did not hold back. Here are five big lines, from NBC News and NPR:

  • "I shouldn't be up here. I should be back at school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you! You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words." (She would repeat the phrase "How dare you!" in the speech.)
  • “You are failing us but young people are starting to understand your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you and if you choose to fail us, I say we will never forgive you.”
  • She belittled the current international goal of cutting emission levels by half over the next decade because she says it provides only a 50-50 chance of keeping the warming trend at the threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius. "A 50 percent risk is simply not acceptable to us—we who have to live with the consequences."
  • "You say you hear us and that you understand the urgency. But no matter how sad and angry I am, I do not want to believe that. Because if you really understood the situation and still kept on failing to act, then you would be evil. And that I refuse to believe."
  • "We will not let you get away with this. Right here, right now is where we draw the line. ... The world is waking up. And change is coming, whether you like it or not."
(More Greta Thunberg stories.)

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