Teen climate activist Greta Thunberg has set sail across the Atlantic ocean to attend UN Climate Summits in New York and Chile. This has drawn massive amounts of media attention, as well as some criticism. So why is one person sailing so important?
She has resorted to sailing instead of flying, as plane travel creates large amounts of pollution. A flight to New York would generate 1,000 kg of CO2 into the atmosphere. Cruise ships would generate even more pollution. Travelling 3,500 nautical miles will be no easy feat in August, a month which typically features storms and rough waves in that part of the ocean.
The journey will take around two weeks. She is sailing on a 60-foot carbon fibre racing yacht, which has been fitted with solar panels and turbines for zero carbon travel. These will allow the yacht to continuously run all the systems and electronics on board, including navigation instruments, autopilots and watermakers, ensuring the transatlantic trip will be fully emission-free.
The boat, The Malizia II, is designed for speed, and so has no toilets or kitchens. The boat was designed for racing, but has had all logos and sponsors removed for this trip, with Greta’s slogan ‘Unite behind the science’ printed on the main sail.
A two man crew will be accompanying her, as well as her father, and a cameraman.
She is sailing to raise awareness of climate change, as well as the amount of pollution every day convinces can create.
She has already said she will not be trying to convince President Donald Trump of the importance of climate change as he hasn’t listened to the many experts who have already tried to explain why climate change is A: real, and B: bad.
She has already proven to be a powerful force for change, being nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, and being described by the trillion-dollar Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries as the greatest threat to the fossil fuel industry. She described this as her ‘biggest compliment yet.’ Legend.
Arron Banks, who helped fund the Vote Leave campaign’s illegal activity with foreign money, has already taken to Twitter to seemingly wish death upon the teenager, just in case anyone was unsure whether he’s a bad person.
This is not the first the activist has faced threats, criticism, or outright abuse. For some reason, people who are funded by or own shares in multinational fossil fuel companies don’t like her for trying to change things. Despite overwhelming evidence that man-made pollution is wreaking havoc on the environment, there are still those who argue that it’s not that bad.
Given our incredibly tight deadline to turn things around before we reach a point of no return, campaigns like this play a vital role in helping raise awareness of climate change.
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