Activist Greta Thunberg gets preview of UNHQ ahead of climate summit

Two days after disembarking from her carbon-free yacht in New York, teen climate activist Greta Thunberg paid a visit to UN Headquarters on Friday, after joining participants of her global climate strike movement, Fridays for Future, at the Organization’s gates. The 16-year-old and two other teens got a preview of the UN General Assembly Hall, where all 193 of the entity’s Member States gather every year to discuss a wide array of international issues, and where Ms. Thunberg is scheduled to speak during the Secretary-General’s Climate Action Summit next month. The Swedish youth activist was greeted by General Assembly President, María Fernanda Espinosa, who tweeted: Welcome, Greta Thunberg and climate activists to the UN in New York. Your determination for climate action  has shaken the world and we join you in holding leaders accountable. “Science, not Silence” #ClimateActionNow. She also received praise from UN Secretary-General António Guterres in a Twitter message: “I’m far from New York, but I’m happy to know that young people came to the UN once again to express their commitment in the fight against climate change. I encourage them to keep pushing for stronger #ClimateAction.” Ms. Thunberg, who sailed from Europe to curb carbon emissions from air travel, will attend UN climate summits in New York in September, and in Santiago, Chile, in December. Her 60-foot Malizia II racing yacht, equiped with solar panels and underwater turbines for electric power, docked in New York City on Wednesday, where she was welcomed by a flotilla of  17 sailboats, each representing one of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The young environmental advocate has gained media attention since waging a “school strike” for climate action last August. At just 15, she stood alone outside of Swedish Parliament in demostration, calling for drastic change. Since, other impassioned youth have followed her lead and skipped school for the cause. “I would love not to have to do this and just go to school,” Ms. Thunberg told journalists upon arriving onto dry land, “but…I want to make a difference.”