What Greta Thunberg is doing in the UK this week
Teen climate crisis activist to lead march through Bristol

Greta Thunberg is urging fellow young climate activists to join her at a last-minute “school strike” in Bristol this week.
The 17-year-old climate crisis activist will be taking part in a Bristol Youth Strike 4 Climate (BYS4C) march starting in the city’s College Green on Friday morning.
Thunberg contacted local campaigners because she “wanted to strike with us”, the BYS4C group’s Izzy Smitheman told the BBC.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
“We didn’t have a strike planned, so it’s a lot of last-minute organisation,” said Smitheman, also 17. “The whole Bristol community has come together to make it happen. We think Greta’s presence will make it very big and bring a lot of energy to the strike.”
The Times reports that thousands of children are expected to flock to the event to protest alongside Thunberg, who is taking a gap year that has already seen her meeting with world leaders and sailing across the Atlantic.
She is expected to travel to the city by train and is due to make a speech before joining the march.
Announcing her visit, the Time Person of the Year for 2019 wrote on Twitter:
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Bristol City Council Green Party Councillor Carla Denyer told the Bristol Live website: “Greta Thunberg and the millions of climate strikers she inspired have played such a crucial role in forcing climate change up the agenda and ensuring that politicians and other leaders cannot be seen to be ignoring the issue.”
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––For a round-up of the most important stories from around the world - and a concise, refreshing and balanced take on the week’s news agenda - try The Week magazine. Start your trial subscription today –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Thunberg’s appearance in Bristol comes as her mother outlines the difficulties that the teenager, who has Asperger’s syndrome, experienced growing up.
In an extract published in the The Observer from the Thunbergs’ upcoming book, Our House is on Fire: Scenes of a Family and a Planet in Crisis, Malena Ernman, 49, said that her daughter developed an eating disorder and was “slowly disappearing into some kind of darkness” before she started protesting.
Ernman writes: “Greta was 11 and was not doing well. She cried on her way to school. She cried in her classes and during her breaks, and the teachers called home almost every day.”
However, since beginning her activism, “Greta’s energy is exploding”, Ernman continues. “There doesn’t seem to be any outer limit, and even if we try to hold her back she just keeps going. By herself.”
-
How medical imposters are ruining health studies
Under the Radar Automated bots and ‘lying’ individuals ‘threaten’ patient safety and integrity of research
-
‘How can I know these words originated in their heart and not some data center in northern Virginia?’
instant opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Can Trump deliver a farmer bailout in time?
Today's Big Question Planting decisions and food prices hang in the balance
-
The Earth is getting darker
Under the radar The planet’s reflectivity is out of whack
-
Scientists want to use enhanced rock weathering to cool the Earth
Under the radar Rock dust could trap atmospheric carbon
-
Icarus programme – the ‘internet of animals’
The Explainer Researchers aim to monitor 100,000 animals worldwide with GPS trackers, using data to understand climate change and help predict disasters and pandemics
-
China vows first emissions cut, sidelining US
Speed Read The US, the world’s No. 2 emitter, did not attend the New York summit
-
How clean-air efforts may have exacerbated global warming
Under the Radar Air pollution artificially cooled the Earth, ‘masking’ extent of temperature increase
-
Earth's seasons are out of whack
Under the radar The seasons' unfixed nature in different regions of the planet may have impacted biodiversity and evolution
-
When does autumn begin?
The Explainer The UK is experiencing a 'false autumn', as climate change shifts seasonal weather patterns
-
How 'freakosystems' are becoming the norm
The explainer Ecosystems are changing permanently