Just days after getting up in front of a room full of world leaders and scolding them on climate change, teen activist Greta Thunberg has been awarded the 2019 Right Livelihood Award, also known as Sweden’s “alternative Nobel Prize”, The Guardian reported.
Thunberg is one of four recipients of the international award which recognizes “practical visionaries” and honors “courageous people solving global problems.”
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Each one of the winners are selected for different reasons, and 16-year-old Thunberg was chosen for inciting a war on climate change.
According to an official statement from the foundation, the activist is being recognized for “inspiring an amplifying political demands for urgent climate action reflecting scientific facts.”
“Thunberg is the powerful voice of a young generation that will have to bear the consequences of today’s political failure to stop climate change,” the statement reads. “Her resolve to not put up with the looming climate disaster has inspired millions of peers to also raise their voices and demand immediate climate action.”
Thunberg said she is “grateful” for being honored as one of the recipients of this award.
“But of course,” she added, “it is not me who is the winner. I am part of a global movement of school children, youth and adults of all ages who have decided to act in defense of our living planet. I share this award with them.”
The teen has been making headlines this past week after appearing at the UN Climate Action Summit in New York.
There, she took to the stage and boldly called out an absent President Donald Trump and other world leaders for neglecting to address climate change and instead leaving it up to the next generation to deal with.
“I shouldn’t be up here,” she told the room. “I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean… You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words.”
Thunberg went on to accuse the world leaders of failing today’s youth with their neglect and their ignorance towards the environment.
“The young people are starting to understand your betrayal,” she said. “The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us, I say, we will never forgive you.”
She added, “Right here, right now is where we draw the line. The world is waking up and change is coming whether you like it or not.”
As per her win, Thunberg and the other laureates will receive a cash prize of one million Swedish krona (about $103,000 USD).
The prize money is intended to support the winners’ work rather than for personal use.
A total of 142 people from 59 countries were considered for the award. Honored alongside the teen is Chinese lawyer and women’s right advocate Guo Jianmei, as well as Indigenous leader Davi Kopenawa and Aminatou Haidar, an advocate of the independence of Western Sahara.
h/t: [The Guardian]( https://www.theguardian.com/global -development/2019/sep/25/greta-thunberg-wins-alternative-nobel-environmental-work-guo-jianmei-right-livelihood-awards), The Right Livelihood Foundation
