Donald Trump took aim at teenage environment activist Greta Thunberg following her fiery appearance at the United Nations Climate Summit on Monday.
The Swedish 16-year-old broke down in tears while furiously scolding international delegates, repeatedly asking, ‘How dare you?’
Thunberg said: ‘I shouldn’t be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to us for hope. How dare you. You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction and yet all you can talk about is money. You are failing us.’
In a sarcastic tweet late Monday, Trump mocked the schoolgirl, saying: ‘She seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future. So nice to see!’
The environmental activist choked on tears while speaking at the United Nations Climate Summit on Monday, where she thundered against leaders for stealing her generation’s future
Trump mocked the teenager with a sarcastic tweet late Monday, say8ibngIn a sarcastic tweet late Monday, Trump mocked the schoolgirl, saying: ‘She seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future. So nice to see!’
Thunberg was seen at the UN headquarters Monday morning with an enraged expression on her face as Trump upstaged her entrance by walking in flanked by news reporters.
The UN summit convened to have nations make plans to confront global warming and rising fossil fuel emissions.
Environment activist Greta Thunberg made a fiery appearance at the United Nations Climate Summit on Monday where she glared at Donald Trump when he walked into the UN headquarters in front of her
Thunberg could hardly contain her anger as she walked into the summit behind Trump. He was not scheduled to participate in the summit that seeks international action against global warming, but attended the conference for just 15 minutes
The 16-year-old called out the leaders gathered there saying: ‘I shouldn’t be up here. I should be back in school. You have stolen my dreams and childhood’
Monday’s UN Summit sought to get nations to agree to a plan of action to curb the rising number of global emissions that contribute to global warming. Thunberg pictured right on stage with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (far left)
‘There will not be any solution or plans in line with these figures here today because these numbers are too uncomfortable and you’re not mature enough to tell it like it is,’ Thunberg, who is usually not as emotional in her speeches, said.
‘You are failing us. The young people are starting to understand your betrayal. 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 on the brink of tears.
‘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,’ she said to uproarious applause.
Thunberg held nothing back as she thundered against the politicians and officials at the UN climate summit.
‘You come to us young people for hope. How dare you?’ she roared.
‘You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words, yet I’m one of the lucky ones. People are suffering, people are dying, entire ecosystems are collapsing,’ she said.
Trump wasn’t originally scheduled to attend the summit as he’s hosting a session on religious persecution in the same building.
He upstaged Thunberg’s entrance into the UN building Monday morning. Video shows the moment Thunberg is seen in the main lobby of the UN Headquarters and is told to stand aside by a security guard as President Trump entered the main doors and walked into the lobby flanked by reporters and cameras.
Thunberg was visible in the background with a livid expression on her face.
The president stayed at the conference for just 15 minutes.
‘You’re not mature enough to tell it like it is,’ Thunberg, who is usually not as emotional in her speeches, said as she rebuked international leaders
Monday’s impassioned speech was a rare display of Thunberg’s anger towards international delegates for their relaxed stance on climate change
Thunberg spoke at the Climate action Summit at the United Nations on Monday
Thunberg held nothing back as she thundered against the politicians and officials at the UN climate summit saying: ‘You come to us young people for hope. How dare you?’
Trump pictured at the UN Climate Action Summit on Monday where he shut his eyes during the presentation and remained for just 15 minutes
Getting in some shut eye? Trump seemed to sneak in some rest at the climate summit
Trump didn’t stay long and seemed preoccupied as he checked his watch during the summit
The summit, entitled ‘A Race We Can Win. A Race We Must Win’ and convened by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, seeks to mobilize political and economic energy to advance climate action.
Areas of discussion included energy transition, climate finance, carbon pricing, industry transition, nature-based solutions, cities and local action and resilience.
In the meeting Guterres pushed to end new coal plant construction by 2020.
While the United States will not be participating, China, France, Germany, India and Russia and about 70 other countries are expected to make announcements concerning climate change at the Monday summit.
Guterres praised young people like Thunberg for demanding change.
‘My generation has failed in its responsibility to protect our planet. That must change. The climate crisis is caused by us, and the solutions must come from us,’ he said.
Twitter users praised the young environment activist for her impassioned speech on the global climate crisis
Thunberg continued her cry for environmental change on Monday by filing a complaint with the United Nations along with 15 other children from across the globe, alleging that five of the world’s major economies have violated their human rights by not taking action to stop the climate crisis.
The petition, filed shortly after Thunberg’s impassioned speech at the summit, names Germany, France, Brazil, Argentina and Turkey.
‘The message that we want to send is that we’ve had enough,’ Thunberg said presenting the complaint on a stage along with her young peers.
The group charge that the countries failed to use their resources ‘to prevent the deadly and foreseeable consequences’ of the climate crisis.
They say the countries made ‘inadequate’ pledges to reduce greenhouse gases that are insufficient to keep global temperatures from rising less than two degrees Celsius – the goal set by the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement.
After her speech, Thunberg was seen speaking with German Chancellor Angela Merkel
Greta also spoke with 15 other children from across the world to present an official human rights complaint on the climate crisis targeted at five of the world’s leading economic powers. They presented the complaint to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child
On Saturday Thunberg spoke at the Youth Climate Summit at the United Nations headquarters in New York
Thunberg has been making waves in New York this week. Pictured above on Friday speaking during the Global Climate Strike demonstration in New York where protesters took to the streets, parks, and plazas around the world demanding more aggressive steps against global warming
Just last week she testified before Congress. Instead of giving a speech she submitted the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Special Report on Global Warming as her testimony
Thunberg skyrocketed to fame after she started demonstrating outside the Swedish Parliament last year, sparking climate protests in her nation. She was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and traveled to the US by yacht to avoid flying last month
At Friday’s climate change action protest in Paris, France one protester held up an image of Thunberg as a saint with the words ‘Our House is on Fire’ written in a halo
A UN science report released Sunday revealed that emissions into the Earth’s atmosphere are continuing to surge and G-20 nations are responsible for 80 percent of those emissions, and they’re still failing to meet their low targets to reduce climate impact.
The UN estimates there needs to be between a three-fold and five-fold increase in efforts to cut greenhouse gases, to prevent global temperatures rising more than 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.
The summit came on the heels of a global Youth Climate Strike on Friday where millions of people around the world protested in streets, parks and plazas to demand faster action to address climate change.
On Saturday, Thunberg appeared at the Youth Climate Action Summit where young leaders from around the world convened to showcase climate solutions.
Thunberg skyrocketed to fame after she started demonstrating outside the Swedish Parliament last year, sparking climate protests in her nation.
She was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and traveled to the US by yacht to avoid flying last month.
Just last week she testified before Congress. Instead of giving a speech she submitted the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Special Report on Global Warming as her testimony.