If you’ve seen the footage of 16 year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg’s speech at the United Nations’ climate summit this week, then you know what passion and intense dedication to a cause looks like. The teenager who started a global youth movement to shame the world’s leaders into finally taking concrete action to combat the dire climate crisis inspired millions of her peers to take to the streets all over the world last week for coordinated protests.
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And while climate change denier in chief Pres. Trump used the opportunity to seemingly mock Thunberg on Twitter this week — and Fox News pundits and right wing commenters compared her efforts to Nazi propaganda and the horror film Children of the Corn — plenty of others took to social media to share how inspired they were by the high schooler.
Many celebrities, including Joe Jonas, Camila Cabello and Ellie Goulding, reposted the footage of Thunberg telling the U.N. gathering: “I shouldn’t be up here. I should be back at school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you! You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words.”
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Among the other artists who’ve praised Thunberg’s singular focus on the issue that they agree is the most pressing of our time are Billie Eilish, Janelle Monáe, Leonardo DiCaprio and The 1975‘s Matty Healy. The latter referred to Thunberg as “the most punk person” he’s ever met and his band got together with the activist recently on a spoken word essay about the effects of climate change for the opening track on their upcoming Notes On a Conditional Form album.
Monáe called her “the coolest,” while Eilish wrote simply “TICK TOCK!” and Cabello said “everybody needs to hear this.”
Check out how they’re amplifying Thunberg’s message below.
A note from Billie: “TICK TOCK! our time is running out. the climate crisis is very real. we need to speak up and demand that our leaders take action. #climatestrike #fridaysforfuture @greenpeace @gretathunberg” pic.twitter.com/2rbc6Pdr2p
— billie eilish (@billieeilish) September 20, 2019
The coolest . TY . —- https://t.co/bXc7bWrbUx
— Janelle Monáe, Cindi (@JanelleMonae) September 21, 2019
–greta–
— olly ? (@alexander_olly) September 24, 2019
He doesn’t have the courage to stop and address this brave young woman. https://t.co/SdR3hWzwD8
— Mark Ruffalo (@MarkRuffalo) September 23, 2019