Greta Thunberg back outside Sweden’s parliament for climate protest

STOCKHOLM, Sweden – After months of crisscrossing the Atlantic to attend first the UN climate summit in New York and then COP25 talks in Madrid, teenage eco-warrior Greta Thunberg was back in Sweden on Friday, December 20, taking part in a rally outside the parliament where her protests first began over a year ago. 

Dressed in her trademark yellow sou’wester and woolen hat and trailed by a pack of bodyguards, Thunberg met with a group of young climate activists before talking to MPs.

Named 2019 Person of the Year by Time magazine, Thunberg said she hoped the distinction would help put her cause in the spotlight.

“I really hope that it raises awareness and motivates others to get involved in the campaign,” she told Swedish news agency TT.

Just over a year ago, at the start of the school year, the then-ninth grade student left her books at home and began sitting outside the Swedish parliament to raise awareness about the climate emergency.

Her “school strike” made the rounds of social media before gaining momentum in the international press — and the “Fridays for Future” movement was born.

The Greta phenomenon went viral. Her Twitter and Instagram accounts now have more than six million followers.

As the unofficial spokesperson for her generation, Thunberg wants to sound the alarm about global warming among the world’s politicians, as witnessed in her rousing “How Dare You?” speech at the UN climate summit.

She has not said what her plans are for the next few months.

But her many Swedish fans and supporters seemed happy to have her back.

“Valkommen hem!” (“Welcome home”) one of them wrote on her Instagram account. – Rappler.com

Editor’s Note: Agence France-Presse initially reported that Greta Thunberg addressed the Swedish parliament. AFP later corrected this to say that Thunberg only joined a rally outside the building.