Section:GDN 1N PaGe:7 Edition Date:190815 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 14/8/2019 19:41 cYanmaGentaYellowbl
Thursday 15 Aug ust 2019 The Guardian •
7solar panels and underwater tur-
bines. The racing team have removed
sponsorship logos from the hull and
emblazoned Thunberg’s slogan “Unite
Behind the Science” on the mainsail.
The yacht is designed for speed
rather than luxury so conditions will
range from basic to diffi cult. There is
no toilet or shower , only blue plastic
buckets. Inside the cabins the lights
are dim so Thunberg will need a head-
lamp or torch to read and keep her
journal. Internet access is also likely
to be patchy, so her 883,000 Twitter
followers may have to wait longer than
usual for updates via satellite phone.
Her diet will be freeze-dried vegan
meals – she has given up meat.
The young Swede is braced for sea
sickness. Although the waves were
small as she left Mayfl ower Marina ,
she will be fortunate if they stay that
way. August is part of the Atlantic’s
hurricane season. Even in moderate
swells, the vessel is noisy and bumpy.
Boris Herrmann , the German▲ Greta Thunberg said meeting
Trump would be a waste of timestrike movement appeared unfazed in
a quayside press conference before she
boarded the vessel.
“There’ll always be people who
don’t understand or accept the sci-
ence. I’ll ignore them,” she said.
“Climate delayers want to shift the
focus from the climate crisis to some-
thing else. I won’t worry about that.
I’ll do what I need.”
S he said her primary goal was to
raise awareness among the public
about the climate emergency. “Peo-
ple [need to] come together and put
pressure on people in power so they
have to do something,” she said.
Asked if she would meet Trump, the
teenager said it would be a waste of
time because the US president hasn’t
captain, said the 3,500 nautical mile
journey would show that it is possi-
ble to cope without fossil fuels and get
closer to nature. “I want to show that
this can be positive and exciting,” he
said. “And that solidarity with Greta is
not limited to eco-activists.”
Thunberg accepts that solar yachts
are not for everyone but says she is
demonstrating there are alternatives.
“I don’t tell people what to do. People
can do what they want.”
The journey marks a new stage
in the remarkable rise of the young
Swede, who was unknown outside of
her family and school until she started
a climate strike last August.
“Some things are actually changing,
like the mindsets of people. It’s not fast
enough, but it’s something,” she said.
The scale of the movement will be
tested on 20 September, when Thun-
berg and others have called for a global
general strike for the climate.
By that time she should be in the
US, where she plans to meet the UN
secretary general, António Guterres ,
as well as US politicians. She has been
promised a warm welcome from the
congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-
Cortez, with whom she has already
discussed strategies to raise climate
ambitions and mobilise campaigners.
After the US, she will head to San-
tiago, Chile’s capital. Asked if she
would also visit Brazil, Thunberg was
vague. “I’ll travel around the whole
continent,” she said. “I’m taking it step
by step ... I’ll travel for I don’t know
how long. I want it to be loose .” That
includes the return voyage. “I don’t
know yet how I will get home.”
As she walked towards the yacht
in her waterproofs, there were cheers
and cries of “ safe journey”.
On Tuesday, Thunberg will pass the
fi rst-year anniversary of her campaign
in the middle of the Atlantic. “I will
see how I will celebrate. I don’t know
yet ,” she said. “I think it will be quite
an adventure.”been persuaded by the experts he ha d
already spoken to. “I’m not that spe-
cial. I can’t convince everyone.”
The voyage is a demonstration of her
declared values, which revolve around
reducing emissions. A fl ight to New
York would pump close to 1,000kgs of
carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Conventional cruise ships often have
an even bigger footprint.
Instead, Thunberg – along with her
father, a cameraman and a two-man
crew – are taking a zero-carbon option.
The Malizia II is an 18 metre (60ft)
racing yacht that was built for round-
the-world challenges and has just
completed the annual Fastnet com-
petition. It generates the power for
lighting and communication through▼ Greta Thunberg on the Malizia II
as it sets off from Plymouth to cross
the Atlantic on its voyage to New York
PHOTOGRAPH: BEN STANSALL/AFP▼ Thunberg, her father, Svante, and
Boris Herrmann, the captain, on the
cramped yacht
PHOTOGRAPH: TEAM MALIZIA/REUTERS▲ Well-wishers at the Mayfl ower
Marina in Plymouth see off the
16-year-old climate activist
PHOTOGRAPH: EPA/ANDY RAINAtlantic OceanExpected route of the 18-meter
racing yacht Malizia IIGreta will attend the UN
Climate Action Summit in
New York on 23 SeptemberPlymouthGreta’s 18-metre yacht
The Maliza II is a high-speed
planing monohull built for
the 2016-17 single-handed,
non-stop round-the-world
Vendée Globe raceNo toilet or shower
on boardUnderwater turbines
generate zero-carbon
electricitySolar panels on deck
provide power for
communication and
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