Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swedish climate activist who started a solo climate strike a year ago as a ninth grader—standing in front of Swedish parliament during school hours to call for the government to do more to reduce emissions—eventually inspired more than a million other students to join protests. This fall, she plans to put school on hold again to attend key climate summits, and instead of flying, she’ll be sailing across the Atlantic.
Good news!
I’ll be joining the UN Climate Action Summit in New York, COP25 in Santiago and other events along the way.
I’ve been offered a ride on the 60ft racing boat Malizia II. We’ll be sailing across the Atlantic Ocean from the UK to NYC in mid August.#UniteBehindTheScience pic.twitter.com/9OH6mOEDce— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) July 29, 2019
Thunberg has been traveling around Europe by train, helping spark another trend in Sweden, “flygskam,” or “flight shame.” Coming to the UN Climate Action Summit in New York City, followed by another summit in Santiago, Chile, posed a bigger challenge. She didn’t want to take a cruise ship, since they also have high emissions (though the first partially electric cruise ship set sail earlier this month). A regular sailboat also would be risky, since the UN summit is happening in August, when hurricane season begins. She eventually got a space on a yacht built for an around-the-world race, which is equipped with solar panels and underwater turbines that generate extra power.