Teen climate activist Greta Thunberg has declined to accept a Swedish environmental prize, insisting that when it comes to saving the planet, action matters more than awards, The Guardian reported.
On Tuesday, Thunberg announced that she had been awarded the Nordic Council’s 2019 environmental award, but had rejected both the award and its cash prize.
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In an Instagram post, the 16-year-old wrote that while she’s certainly honored, she has “decided to decline this prize.”
“The climate movement does not need any more awards,” Thunberg explained. “What we need is for our politicians and the people in power to start to listen to the current, best available science.”
She went on to criticize Nordic countries for not living up to the “great reputation” they have surrounding climate issues.
In the scathing post, she accused those countries of “basically [doing] nothing” despite having the “possibility to do the most.”
“There is no lack of bragging about this,” Thunberg wrote. “There is no lack of beautiful words. But when it comes to our actual emissions and our ecological footprints per capita… then it’s a whole other story.”
Thunberg did not appear at the Stockholm ceremony held by the Nordic Council to receive her award.
Two climate activists spoke on her behalf instead, and read the same statement that appears on Thunberg’s Instagram.
The teen also declined to accept the cash sum for the environmental prize which is 350,000 Danish kroner, or about $36,205 USD.
Thunberg is credited for inspiring millions of people around the world to stage protests to urge leaders to take global warming seriously.
She first rose to prominence in August 2018 after she began spending every Friday seated outside Sweden’s parliament, holding a sign reading, “School strike for climate.”
This sparked the global FridaysForFuture movement, weekly climate strikes that highlight the need for urgent action aimed at putting a stop to climate change.
h/t: The Guardian
