Teen climate activist and Nobel Prize nominee Greta Thunberg has arrived safely in New York City, two weeks after she boarded a solar-powered yacht and set course from the UK across the Atlantic.
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Thunberg, 16, took to Instagram this morning to announce her arrival in the city, where she will attend the Climate Action Summit on September 23 before wandering south through the Americas to spread her urgent message.
There’s much to be done before then, too. Thunberg said she will spend the next few days recuperating from the voyage, before joining a climate strike outside New York City’s UN headquarters.
I mean, it’s Greta Thunberg, the girl who kicked off a wave of global climate strikes. It’s not like she wouldn’t participate in a demonstration.
The @UN has sent out one boat for each of the 17 sustainable development goal to greet us! Thank you! pic.twitter.com/AU5ZSVj5vD
— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) August 28, 2019
Her arrival comes after a punishing fortnight aboard the Maliza II racing yacht. Accompanied by her dad, two crew members, and a photographer, the activist sailed from Plymouth to avoid the excessive carbon emissions of a (much, much faster) commercial flight.
After the New York City summit, Thunberg is scheduled to appear at December’s UN Climate Change Conference in Santiago, Chile.
It’s yet to be seen if she will venture through Brazil, which was thrust into the international conscience during her trip thanks to unprecedented blazes tearing through the Amazon rainforest, but it’s unlikely Thunberg will be greeted too kindly by leaders like Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro – or US President Donald Trump, for that matter.
Still, managing an oceanic trek on a spartan sailboat suggests a kind of constitution certain leaders lack. We’ll keep you posted on how her ‘gap year’ pans out.
