Greta Thunberg, the soft-spoken Swedish teenager who became a global conscience for climate change and environmental activism, has been named Time magazine’s Person of the Year for 2019. The magazine announced the 16-year-old as its choice Wednesday exclusively on the “TODAY” show.
“She became the biggest voice on the biggest issue facing the planet this year, coming from essentially nowhere to lead a worldwide movement,” Time editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal told the show, adding that Thunberg is the magazine’s youngest choice ever to be named Person of the Year.
Thunberg quickly bloomed into one of the world’s most notable climate change activists, sparking a collective movement to fight the issue after protesting alone outside the Swedish Parliament during school hours on Fridays when she was 15. The teen held up a now universally recognized hand-painted sign that read “skolstrejk för klimatet,” which translates to “School strike for the climate.”
Her initiative to strike galvanized students to protest against climate change throughout Europe and that momentum quickly fanned across the globe, becoming the “Fridays For Future” movement.
Her solo protest, Fensenthal noted, eventually prompted millions of people in 150 countries “to act on behalf of the planet.” He also said that Thunberg “represents a broader generational shift in the culture” — with youth standing up for what they believe in — from Hong Kong to Chile.
For the rest of this article: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/greta-thunberg-time-s-2019-person-year-n1099396