Was it a coincidence that the word ‘Climate Emergency’ and the name ‘Greta Thunberg’ have been announced as Oxford Word of the Year 2019 & Time Person of the Year 2019 ? We don’t need to be Sherlock Holmes to find the correlation between them. The 16 year old Swedish Girl has been honored with the prestigious Time Person of the Year 2019 on 11.12.2019.
“You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words,’ Greta told world leaders at the 2019 UN climate action summit in New York. In her speech driven by emotions, she accused them of ignoring the science behind the climate crisis. She said “We are in the beginning of a mass extinction and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth”. When she let out the words “how dare you!”, a bold thunder was heard across the world.
This teenager has inspired 4 million teen students to take part in strikes for Climate Change. She took part in the R20 Austrian World Summit, Vienna on May 2019. She spoke in front of UN Gen Secretary and Federal President of Austria; and she is fearless.
Canadian Literary giant Margaret Atwood compared Greta to Joan of Arc. It fits aptly. She has been the Voice of Our Planet and she deserves this honor from Time Magazine. Go Greta.