'Science not silence': Greta Thunberg takes weekly climate strike to UN

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has joined a New York teenager and hundreds of others in a protest at the gates of the United Nations.

Teens gather outside the UN on Friday.

Teens gather outside the UN on Friday. Source: Twitter

Swedish teenage activist Greta Thunberg has taken her weekly campaign for greater action on climate change to the gates of the UN, urging "everyone who cares about our future" to join her when world leaders gather in New York next month.

Greta, 16, started missing school on Fridays a year ago to protest outside the Swedish parliament, sparking a global climate strike movement known as Fridays for Future.

She joined 14-year-old New Yorker Alexandria Villasenor on Friday, who began picketing outside the UN in New York in December.

A couple of hundred of other young protesters supported them with signs that read "Help my home is on fire", "If you won't act like adults, we will" and "Science not silence".






Their chants included "we are unstoppable, a better world is possible" and "sea levels are rising and so are we".

Greta will speak at a September 23 climate summit during the annual gathering of world leaders for the UN General Assembly.

She sailed into New York Harbour on Wednesday in a zero-carbon emissions boat, completing a nearly 14-day journey from England.

Greta met with UN General Assembly President Maria Fernanda Espinosa later on Friday.

"I think this summit needs to be some kind of breaking point, tipping point, where people start to realise what is actually going on," Thunberg told Espinosa.

"We have high expectations in you too, and all member states to deliver. And we are going to try to do our part to make sure that they have all eyes on them and they have put the pressure on them so they can't continue to ignore it."


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