The Week Junior UK – 24 August 2019

O

n14A ugust,16-year-oldclimateactivist

GretaThunbergsetsailfromPlymouth,inthe

UK,boundforNewYork,intheUS.Thejourneyis

expectedtotakearoundtwoweeks.

Who is GretaThunberg?

ThunbergisastudentfromSweden.Onedayin

August2018,insteadofgoingtoschool,shestaged

aprotestoutsideSweden’sparliament.Th

saidthatshewouldn’treturntoclassesunt

governmentdidmoretos topclimatechan

Thisinspiredaglobalmovement,knowna

schoolstrikeforclimate.Climatechange

isthelong-termchangeinthe

world’sweatherpatternscaused

byhumanactivities.Burning

fossilfuels(coal,oilandgas),

farmingandcuttingdown

forestsareallmajorcauses

ofclimatechange.

Why is Thunberg

sailing to NewYork?

Thunbergdoesn’twantto

travelbyplanebecauseofits

environmentalimpact.Planes

releaselargeamountsofcarbon

dioxide(CO2)intotheEarth’satmosphere.These

emissionsareoneofthemaincausesofclimate

change.So,Thunbergiscompletingthetripbyboat,

andhastakenayearoffs choolforherjourney.When

shearrives,ThunbergwillattendtheUnitedNations

(UN)ClimateActionSummiton23September.She

willthentraveltoanotherconferenc einC hile,South

AmericainDecember.Thunberg’sfatherSvante,

ain,asailorandadocumentary

alsoonboard.

sthe boat like?

heboa tthatThunbergistravellingon

isahigh-techracingyachtcalled

theMaliziaII.Itis18metres

longandcanreachspeedsof

upto29mph,whichmakes

itoneofthefastestboatsof

itskind.Ithassolarpanels

onit,whichusesunlight

togenerateelectricity.

Theboat’senergy-efficient

designmeansthereisno

roomfor akitchenortoilet.

Whenthecrewneedthetoilet,

they’llhavetouseabucket.

Howhavepeoplereacted?

ManypeoplehavepraisedThunbergforher

determinationandsayshe’s aninspiration.

PeopleinPlymouthcameto watchThunbergset

sail.Oneofthem,KerrieRoche-Walker ,toldtheBBC,

“It’ssoi mportantforallofustosupportthecauses

thatshestandsfor”.Othershavequestionedhow

environmentallyfriendlythetripis.Twonewcrew

memberswillflytoNewYorktohelptaketheboat

backtoEurope,andsomeofthosealreadyonthe

boatmayflyback.Somepeoplesaythismeansthe

tripwillcreatemor ecarbonemissionsthanitsaves.

Criticshavealsohighlightedhowfewpeoplehave

thetime,ormoney,tof ollowThunberg’sexample.

However,HollyCova,managerofTeamMalizia,has

saidanyflightstakenwillbeoffset,whichmeans

peoplewillpaytowardsschemesthatreduce

emissions,tobalanceoutany CO2thatisputinto

theatmosphereasar esultoftheiractions.

How’s the journeygoing sofar?

On17August,ThunbergupdatedherTwitterpage.

Shewrote,“Eatingandsleepingwellandnosea

sicknesssofar. LifeonMaliziaIIislikecampingona

rollercoaster!”YoucanfollowThunberg’sprogressvia

alivetrackerattinyurl.com/TWJtracker

The Week Junior•24 August 2019

This week’s big news

Gret aThunbergsetssailfor

climate conferenceint heUS

2

The City of EdinburghCouncil

has announced that schools

in Edinburghcangive their

students one day off from

school each year to takepart

in protests. However,students

will not be punished if they

takemorethan one day off

to campaign. The decision

is inresponse to worldwide

protests inspired by Greta

Thunberg, who started missing

school in order to makethe

Swedish government do more

to tackle climate change.

Aday offforprotesting

Greta Thunberg on the

boat to NewYork.

unber

tilthe

ge.

asthe

America,inDec

theyacht’s

filmmakerare

What’s

T

Thunberg is on

boardthe Malizia II.

DIDYOU

KNOW?

Flygskam

isSwed

ishfor

flight shame.

It is the

name

foram

ovement support

ed

byThunber

gtoencourage

people

tostop

flying.