All you need to know about Greta Thunberg: Times Person of the Year 2019

Greta Thunberg was recently named the 'Times Person of the Year' for leveraging change and asking hard questions to all the world leaders who haven't been taking climate change seriously. The sixteen-year-old Swedish activist rose to fame for taking on a cross-continental journey on the 16-year-oldsea all by herself. She traversed the Atlantic Ocean in August 2019 to attend climate conferences in New York City and Chile. The voyage lasted 15 days, from 14 to 28 August 2019. She did this to throw light on the fact that air travel is highly detrimental to the environment. People on the internet quickly took notice of her activism and applauded her for the same.

The spunky teenager's rage directed at powerful world leaders amused many and ignited a set of memes that featured the Swedish activist. Thunberg was noticed by the local and subsequently the international media in August 2018 when she began spending her school days outside the Swedish parliament to call for stronger action on global warming. She was all of 15 years then and would stand outside the parliament building holding the sign "School strike for the climate" in Swedish. Many students joined her silent protest and later organised a school climate strike movement under the name 'Fridays for Future'.

Greta Thunberg was invited to addressed the 2018 United Nations Climate Change Conference. Her impactful speech ignited student strikes that took place every week in various locations around the world. In 2019, there were at least two coordinated multi-city protests involving over one million students each. Since then, Greta has been awarded by many big organisations including fellowship of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, being named as one of the 100 most influential people of 2019 by Time magazine and eventually being named Time Person of the Year 2019 to recognize her efforts and work towards climate change. She is the youngest individual ever to have received the title and has also been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.