Greta Thunberg said the U.S President Donald Trump’s climate change denial is so extreme and it is helping to galvanize the environmental movement. The teenage activist suggested the U.S president’s wholesale rejection of climate science may force people to wake up regarding the global warming crisis. She added, “He’s so extreme and he says so extreme things, so I think people wake up by that in a way”. She was speaking as she prepared to sail across the Atlantic following a trip to the United States. She said, “I thought when he got elected, now people must finally wake up. Because it feels like if we just continue like now, nothing’s going to happen. So maybe he is helping”.
Last week, the administration of Donald Trump formally started withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement. It makes the United States the only country in the world not signed up to the pact to keep the global average temperature below 2C above pre-industrial levels. Trump has repeatedly dismissed the existence of human-caused climate change. He also branded it a “hoax” and has rolled back Obama-era policies designed at tackling the environmental crisis. His position has put him at odds with the overwhelming majority of scientists and his own government agencies. They have warned human-caused global warming is on course to have catastrophic consequences for life on Earth.
It is noteworthy that Trump has formerly mocked Thunberg for urging world leaders to take action. The Swedish teenager set off for Europe aboard a 15-meter catamaran following a trip that saw her address the United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York. She started the journey with her outward trip in August and expecting there will be zero-carbon. The 16-year-old is to spend weeks aboard La Vagabonde (a boat with green credentials including solar panels and hydro-generators). Thunberg had been due to attend another global climate summit in Santiago in December but the Chilean government canceled the meeting last month. The summit has since been moved to Spain and forced Thunberg not to fly due to air travel’s high emissions.