Scores of mostly young climate activists took to the streets of Manhattan and around the world last Friday to demand action ahead of the United Nations General Assembly that is taking place in New York this week. While Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office estimated the crowd in Manhattan at 60’000, organizers counted 250’000 participants. 16 year old climate activist Greta Thunberg, who started the Fridays for Future movement by skipping school on Fridays and protesting in front of the Swedish parliament, gave a speech in Battery Park where the New York march ended. “We don’t need politicians to tell us how proud they are of us and then don’t do anything”, Thunberg said. In a speech delivered at the United Nations just yesterday, September 23, Thunberg accused world leaders of caring more about “fairy tales of eternal economic growth” than about the consequences of climate change.
**Photo Credit: Eden Naureckas