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Greta Thunberg turns 17: From scolding world leaders to becoming Time's Person of the Year, climate activist had a momentous year

While most 16 year olds are busy struggling with their academics, this Swedish teenager literally went all over the world making a huge difference

What were you doing throughout your sweet sixteen? Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg, who turned 17 on January 3, 2020, was busy organizing student strikes across the globe, fearlessly scolding world leaders at international summits, and being named TIME magazine's "Person of the Year" all through 2019. 

Lack of government action on climate change, spurred a visionary Greta to bunk school at the age of 15 and sit outside the Swedish parliament in August 2018 in protest.

Her one-girl protest soon gathered steam with thousands of students across 270 towns in various countries inspired to follow suit. 

When she spoke in Helsinki in December of the same year, she drew an impressive crowd, all of them listening spell-bound to her words demanding instant action to stop climate change. Things escalated fast when she turned 16, and her message reached far and wide. Soon enough, her face was being painted on the side of buildings, balloons, and floats the shape of her body were being displayed at rallies and parades and she was being honored with a host of awards all over the world.

Here are some of the highlights from the green activist's sixteenth year.

United Nations Summit

In a groundbreaking move, Greta chose to embark on a two-week journey sailing across the Atlantic Ocean, instead of taking a flight, in August 2019, after she was invited to deliver a speech at the UN Climate Action Summit in New York. 

Her passionate speech at the summit, warning some of the biggest world leaders of our time that they were not doing enough to stop climate change, moved the hearts of thousands. Soon she was the top trending name on every digital platform with people playing her speech over and over again on multiple streaming sites.

"How dare you! For more than 30 years the science has been crystal clear. How dare you continue to look away and come here saying that you're doing enough when the politics and solutions needed are still nowhere in sight," she told the leaders, accusing them of caring more about money and economic growth than about the collapsing ecosystems of the world. 

Greta vs. Trump

Ever since Greta delivered the riveting speech and was later caught on camera glaring furiously at him when he made an unexpected appearance for 10 minutes at the summit, Trump has not stopped trolling the teen activist. 

"She seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future. So nice to see!" he sarcastically tweeted after Greta's speech went viral. 

Greta proved she also had a sense of humor apart from being woke. Taking the high road and not reply to Trump's tweet, she hilariously changed her Twitter bio instead, to read, "@GretaThunberg A very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future."

Months later, she did the same a second time when a furious Trump chose to attack her after she was named the "Person Of The Year" by TIME Magazine. 

Her Twitter bio said, "A teenager working on her anger management problem. Currently chilling and watching a good old fashioned movie with a friend". Greta also appeared on 'The Ellen Show' and made it clear that she was not willing to have a sit down with the POTUS at any time in the future to "try to help him understand climate change."

"I don't understand why I would do that," Thunberg said. "I don't see what I could tell him that he hasn't already heard, and I just think it would be a waste of time, really."

Nobel Peace Prize

Due to her efforts and widespread influence in the fight against climate change, Greta got nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize at the age of 16!

However, the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded on October 11, 2019, to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali. Had Thunberg been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, she would have become the youngest person to receive it.