Greta Thunberg, Sweden, climate rebel, activist and viking amazon warrior says: "NYC here I come!"

Greta Thunberg Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg to take gap year
The Local 1 June 2019

 

She's back: Amazone Viking Greta Thunberg announced in June 2019 she will sail across the Atlantic in a high-speed racing yacht to attend United Nations climate summits in the United States as part of a sabbatical year. The yacht is fitted with solar panels and underwater turbines and so generates zero-carbon emissions.

And indeed so she did attend UN Climate Action Summit 2019.

But first this:

Teen climate activist Greta Thunberg will bring her message to the U.S.

World Jul 29, 2019 10:01 AM EDT

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Greta Thunberg, the Swedish teenager whose social media-savvy brand of eco-activism has inspired tens of thousands of students in Europe to skip classes and protest for faster action against climate change, said Monday that she plans to take her message to America the old-fashioned way: by boat.

The 16-year-old tweeted that she’ll sail across the Atlantic aboard a high-tech racing yacht, leaving Britain next month to attend U.N. climate summits in New York in September and Santiago, Chile, in December. Thunberg told The Associated Press ahead of her announcement that she spent months trying to figure out how to travel to the U.S. without using planes, which she has long shunned because of their high greenhouse gas emissions. Cruise ships are also notoriously big polluters, while sailors rarely brave the Atlantic in August because of hurricane risks. “Taking a boat to North America is basically impossible,” she said in an interview during her weekly “Fridays for Future” protest outside the Swedish parliament in Stockholm. “I have had countless people helping me, trying to contact different boats.” Thunberg plans to take a year off from school to keep raising awareness of climate change and pressuring world leaders to step up efforts to curb global warming. Since starting her “school strikes” in August 2018, the daughter of an actor and an opera singer has appeared before policymakers at last year’s U.N. climate conference in Poland and harangued business and political leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. She also met with Pope Francis, who praised Thunberg’s efforts and encouraged her to continue campaigning. Although little-known in the United States, Thunberg has arguably become the figurehead for a new generation of European eco-activists worried that they’ll suffer the fallout from their parents’ and grandparents’ unwillingness to take strong actions to combat climate change. “This past year, my life has turned upside down,” Thunberg told the AP. “Every day is an adventure, basically. Sometimes I have to pinch myself and say ‘Is this really real? Has this actually been happening?’ Because it has all happened so fast and it’s hard to keep up with everything. “In a way, I am more optimistic, because people are slowly waking up and people are becoming more aware of the situation. This whole ‘Fridays for Future’ movement is very hopeful,” she said. “But also … one year has passed and still almost nothing has happened.” Her visibility has made Thunberg a target for those who reject the overwhelming consensus among scientists that climate change is being driven by man-made emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, released by the burning of fossil fuels. “I don’t care about hate and threats from climate crisis deniers,” she said. “I just ignore them.” Thunberg said she’s unsure how her message will be received in the United States, where there’s broad opposition to the kind of radical measures scientists say are required to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) by the end of the century compared with pre-industrial times. “I will just try to go on as I have before,” the young Swede said. “Just always refer to the science and we’ll just see what happens.” Thunberg wouldn’t rule out meeting with President Donald Trump, who wants the U.S. to withdraw from the landmark 2015 Paris climate accord, but appeared doubtful such an encounter would happen because she thinks it would be “just a waste of time.”“As it looks now, I don’t think so, because I have nothing to say to him,” she told the AP. “He obviously doesn’t listen to the science and the scientists. So why should I, a child with no proper education, be able to convince him?”

Aside from attending a summit hosted by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on the sidelines of the global body’s annual assembly on Sept. 20, Thunberg plans to take part in several climate protests in New York. The British band The 1975s has released an album with a short essay by Thunberg set to music. It ends with her declaring “it is now time for civil disobedience. It is time to rebel.”

Thunberg stressed that she rejects violence, citing her school strikes for climate as the kind of action she backs. Last week she deleted a tweet showing her wearing a T-shirt with the slogan “Antifascist All Stars,” after some accused her of supporting far-left extremists.

“You can rebel in different ways,” she said. “Civil disobedience is rebelling. As long as it’s peaceful, of course.”

After New York, Thunberg intends to travel to the annual U.N. climate conference in December, held in Chile this year, with stops in Canada, Mexico and other countries along the way, traveling by train and bus. The yacht she’ll be crossing the Atlantic with is a far cry from the Viking ships that first brought Scandinavians to America. Captained by yachtsman Boris Herrmann, the 60-foot (18-meter) Malizia II is fitted with solar panels and underwater turbines to generate zero-carbon electricity on board.

Thunberg will also be accompanied on the two-week journey by a filmmaker, her father Svante and Pierre Casiraghi, the grandson of Monaco’s late Prince Rainier III and American actress Grace Kelly.

“I haven’t experienced anything like this before,” Thunberg said, a giggle breaking her normally serious demeanor. “I think this will be a trip to remember.”

Thunberg will be setting a very high bar for the activists and leaders from outside the Americas who are attending the U.N. climate conferences, almost all of whom will likely be coming by plane.

“I’m not saying that people should stop flying,” she said. “I’m just saying it needs to be easier to be climate neutral."

Sourse: Frank Jordans, Associated Press

THE UN CLIMATE SUMMIT.

Global emissions are reaching record levels and show no sign of peaking. The last four years were the four hottest on record, and winter temperatures in the Arctic have risen by 3°C since 1990. Sea levels are rising, coral reefs are dying, and we are starting to see the life-threatening impact of climate change on health, through air pollution, heatwaves and risks to food security.

The impacts of climate change are being felt everywhere and are having very real consequences on people’s lives. Climate change is disrupting national economies, costing us dearly today and even more tomorrow. But there is a growing recognition that affordable, scalable solutions are available now that will enable us all to leapfrog to cleaner, more resilient economies.

The latest analysis shows that if we act now, we can reduce carbon emissions within 12 years and hold the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C and even, as asked by the latest science, to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

Thankfully, we have the Paris Agreement – a visionary, viable, forward-looking policy framework that sets out exactly what needs to be done to stop climate disruption and reverse its impact. But the agreement itself is meaningless without ambitious action.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres is calling on all leaders to come to New York on 23 September with concrete, realistic plans to enhance their nationally determined contributions by 2020, in line with reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 45 per cent over the next decade, and to net zero emissions by 2050.

I want to hear about how we are going to stop the increase in emissions by 2020, and dramatically reduce emissions to reach net-zero emissions by mid-century

To be effective and credible, these plans cannot address mitigation alone: they must show the way toward a full transformation of economies in line with sustainable development goals. They should not create winners and losers or add to economic inequality; they must be fair and create new opportunities and protections for those negatively impacted, in the context of a just transition. And they should also include women as key decision-makers: only gender-diverse decision-making has the capacity to tackle the different needs that will emerge in this coming period of critical transformation.

The Summit will bring together governments, the private sector, civil society, local authorities and other international organizations to develop ambitious solutions in six areas: a global transition to renewable energy; sustainable and resilient infrastructures and cities; sustainable agriculture and management of forests and oceans; resilience and adaptation to climate impacts; and alignment of public and private finance with a net zero economy.

Business is on our side. Accelerated climate solutions can strengthen our economies and create jobs, while bringing cleaner air, preserving natural habitats and biodiversity, and protecting our environment.

New technologies and engineering solutions are already delivering energy at a lower cost than the fossil-fuel driven economy. Solar and onshore wind are now the cheapest sources of new bulk power in virtually all major economies. But we must set radical change in motion.

This means ending subsidies for fossil fuels and high-emitting agriculture and shifting towards renewable energy, electric vehicles and climate-smart practices. It means carbon pricing that reflects the true cost of emissions, from climate risk to the health hazards of air pollution. And it means accelerating the closure of coal plants and halting the construction of new ones and replacing jobs with healthier alternatives so that the transformation is just, inclusive and profitable.

Action porfolios

In order to ensure that the transformative actions in the real economy are as impactful as possible, the Secretary-General has prioritized the following action portfolios, which are recognized as having high potential to curb greenhouse gas emissions and increased global action on adaptation and resilience

• Finance: mobilizing public and private sources of finance to drive decarbonization of all priority sectors and advance resilience;

• Energy Transition: accelerating the shift away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy, as well as making significant gains in energy efficiency;

• Industry Transition: transforming industries such as Oil and Gas, Steel, Cement, Chemicals and Information Technology;

• Nature-Based Solutions: Reducing emissions, increasing sink capacity and enhancing resilience within and across forestry, agriculture, oceans and food systems, including through biodiversity conservation, leveraging supply chains and technology;

• Cities and Local Action: Advancing mitigation and resilience at urban and local levels, with a focus on new commitments on low-emission buildings, mass transport and urban infrastructure; and resilience for the urban poor;

• Resilience and Adaptation: advancing global efforts to address and manage the impacts and risks of climate change, particularly in those communities and nations most vulnerable.

In addition, there are three additional key areas:

• Mitigation Strategy: to generate momentum for ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and long-term strategies to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement.

• Youth Engagement and Public Mobilization: To mobilize people worldwide to take action on climate change and ensure that young people are integrated and represented across all aspects of the Summit, including the six transformational areas.

• Social and Political Drivers: to advance commitments in areas that affect people’s well-being, such as reducing air pollution, generating decent jobs, and strengthening climate adaptation strategies and protect workers and vulnerable groups.

RELATED:

Iceland's Okjokull glacier commemorated with plaque
By Toby Luckhurst
BBC News
18 August 2019

The glacier was officially declared dead in 2014 when it was no longer thick enough to move.
What once was glacier has been reduced to a small patch of ice atop a volcano.
Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir, Environment Minister Gudmundur Ingi Gudbrandsson and former Irish President Mary Robinson attended the ceremony.
After opening remarks by Ms Jakobsdottir, mourners walked up the volcano northeast of the capital Reykjavik to lay a plaque which carries a letter to the future.

"Ok is the first Icelandic glacier to lose its status as glacier," it reads.
"In the next 200 years all our main glaciers are expected to follow the same path. This monument is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done.
"Only you know if we did it."
The dedication, written by Icelandic author Andri Snaer Magnason, ends with the date of the ceremony and the concentration of carbon dioxide in the air globally - 415 parts per million (ppm).

"You think in a different time scale when you're writing in copper rather than in paper," Mr Magnason told the BBC. "You start to think that someone actually is coming there in 300 years reading it.
"This is a big symbolic moment," he said. "Climate change doesn't have a beginning or end and I think the philosophy behind this plaque is to place this warning sign to remind ourselves that historical events are happening, and we should not normalise them. We should put our feet down and say, okay, this is gone, this is significant."
Oddur Sigurdsson is the glaciologist at the Icelandic Meteorological Office who pronounced Okjokull's death in 2014.
He has been taking photographs of the country's glaciers for the past 50 years, and noticed in 2003 that snow was melting before it could accumulate on Okjokull.

On December 30th. there will be the anual anual climate top. I'll keep you updated.

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