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In late 2019, Time named climate activist Greta Thunburg its Person of the Year, which was pretty amazing. Greta was a fantastic choice. In October, she was awarded the 2019 Nordic Council Environment Prize, and she turned it down, writing on Instagram that while it was an honor, that the “climate movement does not need any more awards,” we need “politicians and the people in power start to listen to the current, best available science.” Greta’s eloquence and dedication to her work to the exclusion of what could be seen as distractions is incredible.
We’ve now gotten word that she’s been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize!
Greta Thunberg hasn’t missed the boat on a Nobel Peace Prize.
The 17-year-old climate change activist has been nominated for the prestigious honor by two Swedish lawmakers after losing the award last year, the Associated Press reported on Monday.
In a public show of support for Thunberg — who became the youngest Time Person of the Year ever in 2019 — Jens Holm and Hakan Svenneling of Sweden’s Left Party emphasized how the teenager “has worked hard to make politicians open their eyes to the climate crisis,” saying that “action for reducing our emissions and complying with the Paris Agreement is therefore also an act of making peace,” the AP reported.
Nominations for the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize were due on Feb. 1, the AP noted, but a winner will not be announced until this fall.
According to the Nobel Prize organization’s website, “The Committee does not itself announce the names of nominees, neither to the media nor to the candidates themselves. In so far as certain names crop up in the advance speculations as to who will be awarded any given year’s Prize, this is either sheer guesswork or information put out by the person or persons behind the nomination. Information in the Nobel Committee’s nomination database is not made public until after fifty years.”
I’m reminded that a certain bully asked Shinzo Abe to nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize. Greta clearly didn’t ask anyone to nominate her, and she doesn’t need to. She’s also still busy putting lawmakers on the defensive:
Thunberg’s big news comes weeks after she lambasted international lawmakers at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Jan. 21, accusing government leaders of not doing enough to save the planet despite years of consensus among scientists that humans are responsible for worsening climate change and putting future generations at risk.
“Our house is still on fire,” she said at the World Economic Forum, The New York Times reported. “Your inaction is fueling the flames by the hour.”
“I wonder, what will you tell your children was the reason to fail and leave them facing the climate chaos you knowingly brought upon them?” Thunberg asked the audience.’
“Let’s be clear. We don’t need a ‘low carbon economy.’ We don’t need to ‘lower emissions,’ ” she continued. “Our emissions have to stop.”
Greta speaks the way that thoughtful, passionate, knowledgeable leaders do. She’s busy focusing on how to deal with the climate catastrophe that we’re in, not getting caught up in petty nonsense. I’d love it if Greta won the Nobel, but I’m sure she’d also say that she doesn’t need it, that the work she’s doing, the work that leaders need to be doing, is what matters.
Congrats to Greta.
You just KNOW this will trigger the orange one. Who was it he accused recently of stealing his?
He accused the Ethiopian Prime Minister of stealing “his” prize. That orange THING is so stupid. Yay for Greta.
Yes to Greta. I know we are going to end up with another 4 years of the big orange baby, so it’s nice to think somewhere in the world there are people who get it. Glad she was nominated.
Congratulations to Greta!
Emperor Babyfists Twitter rampage meltdown in 3… 2… 1….
As they mentioned in the piece, the Nobel Foundation keeps nominations secret. These stories about Nobel nominations irk me. The Nobels are not the Oscars, People Magazine.
That said, I think Greta Thunberg deserves the prize.
Greta or Nancy Pelosi for the prize…
I LOVED Boss Nancy’s move last night – slowly ripping up his speech in full view of the camera’s, she even neatly collated the bits of paper first. TOTAL. BOSS. MOVE.
Awesome. She deserves it.
You get such amazing humans when you educate them well. Yay Greta!!!!!! It is crazy that she is more knowledgeable about the climate then most adults. Unreal.
The nobel prize is a joke!!! This year they gave the Literatur Nobel Prize to Peter Handke, an idiot who denies the Genozid in Srebrenica. So to me this swedish idiots can keep the prize in their big rasict empty country!
Just imagine if they gave the prize to a holocaust denier?? Unbelievable!!!
@Dali, you are 100% correct. Please also look at the recent story out of Davos where an African climate change activist was CUT OUT of a photo with Greta and her buddies! Little Greta strangely had nothing to say.
Greta called out the news agency for erasing her from the photo and posted the full picture with Vanessa Nakate. Vanessa herself publicly thanked Greta for having her back.
Cropping her out is fully on the agency.
Shouldn’t that prize, which is global recognition go for achievement rather than popularity? I have to admit I am not really familiar with the material – have to read on the requirements and the people who get them in the past.
I so agree with the comments above!
Nobel is not a popularity contest prize.
And while I agree to some extent that Greta speaks about right issues, I also do not support the hysteria she has helped to create among schoolchildren who think the world is coming to an end tomorrow.
TERESAM … it is an EXTINCTION EVENT. Hysteria is appropriate my friend.
As someone with Aspergers, I find her incredibly inspirational. What she’s achieved is incredible and she’s only just getting started.
If I’m not mistaken, Greta’s goal is to draw attention to the issue, and push people who can do something to actually do something. I don’t recall her saying she has all the answers or doling out scientific advice, she’s an activist and I don’t think has claimed to be anything but.
And climate change is a scientific fact, not a hard left diatribe.
ETA this was in response to a post that has been deleted.
I can’t wait to see what Greta does next.
lets elect her our worldleader its time to be united
I admire Greta deeply for all she has done to call attention to this vital issue.
Lets not forget the Noble prize nominations are worthy of no respects:
Hitler, Stalin, Fidel Castro and Benito Mussolini were all NOMINATED for this prize.