Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swedish student whose school-skipping protests to highlight the existential need for big action on climate change have inspired tens of thousands of European teens to join her "school strikes," is coming to spread her message to the U.S., she said Monday. Thunberg will attend United Nations climate summits in New York in September and Chile in December, but she had struggled for months to come up with an ecologically appropriate form of travel.
Airplanes are big polluters but so are cruise ships, and smaller boats are dangerous to sail through August's active hurricane-prone Atlantic waters. "Taking a boat to North America is basically impossible," she told The Associated Press, except aboard the high-speed racing yacht she will travel on, accompanied by a filmmaker, her father, Svante, and Pierre Casiraghi, the grandson of the late Grace Kelly and Monaco's Prince Rainier III. The 60-foot yacht, Malizia II, runs on solar panels and underwater turbines to generate zero carbon emissions. "I haven't experienced anything like this before," Thunberg told AP, giggling. "I think this will be a trip to remember."
Subscribe to 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.
-
Why Bhutan hopes tourists will put a smile back on its faceUnder The Radar The 'kingdom of happiness' is facing economic problems and unprecedented emigration
-
7 beautiful towns to visit in Switzerland during the holidaysThe Week Recommends Find bliss in these charming Swiss locales that blend the traditional with the modern
-
The Week contest: Werewolf billPuzzles and Quizzes
-
How safe are cruise ships in storms?The Explainer The vessels are always prepared
-
Biden visits Amazon, says climate legacy irreversibleSpeed Read Nobody can reverse America's 'clean energy revolution,' said the president, despite the incoming Trump administration's promises to dismantle climate policies
-
Climate change is threatening Florida's Key deerThe Explainer Questions remain as to how much effort should be put into saving the animals
-
Is Cop29 a 'waste of time'?Today's Big Question World leaders stay away as spectre of Donald Trump haunts flagship UN climate summit
-
At least 95 dead in Spain flash floodsSpeed Read Torrential rainfall caused the country's worst flooding since 1996
-
Cuba roiled by island-wide blackouts, Hurricane OscarSpeed Read The country's power grid collapsed for the fourth time in just two days
-
Earth's carbon sinks are collapsingUnder the Radar Forests and soil are not operating as usual
-
Why the Earth's water cycle is under threatUnder The Radar Disturbances in the system that moves water around the world place more than half of global food production at risk
