I wonder how long it took?
Greta Thunberg Says 3-Week Voyage Across the Atlantic ‘Energized’ Her Climate Change Fight
Climate activist Greta Thunberg arrived in Portugal on Tuesday after a three-week voyage across the Atlantic Ocean, telling cheering supporters that the journey had “energized†her for the fight against climate change.
The Swedish teen, whose one-woman protests outside the Swedish parliament helped inspired a global youth movement, sailed into the port of Lisbon after making a last-minute dash back from the United States to attend this year’s U.N. climate conference.
Thunberg has been steadfast in her refusal to fly because of the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by planes, a stance that put her planned appearance at the meeting in doubt when the venue was moved from Chile to Spain a month ago.
“We’ve all been on quite an adventure,†Thunberg told reporters shortly after stepping off the catamaran La Vagabonde, on which she’d hitched a ride back home to Europe. “It feels good to be back.â€
Three weeks? Let me ask, do most people have the time to take three weeks to cross the ocean? Will your work give you that much time off? Not too mention the 3 weeks to get back after a vacation? Do you even want to take 3 weeks? Maybe a languid week long voyage on a cruise ship, but, not a tiny sailboat crossing an ocean.
The white 48-foot (15-meter) yacht carrying Thunberg, her father Svante, an Australian family and professional sailor Nikki Henderson sailed into Lisbon amid blue skies, with a small flotilla of boats escorting it to harbor.
Her trip contrasted with the many air miles flown by most of the U.N. meeting’s 25,000 attendees.
Thunberg wanted a low-carbon form of transport to get to the climate meeting, which was switched at short notice to Spain from Chile due to unrest there.
The yacht leaves little or no carbon footprint when its sails are up, using solar panels and hydro-generators for electricity.
It’s funny, Time writers Barry Hatton and Frank Jordans forget to mention the boat’s captain taking a fossil fueled flight across the Atlantic, which wiped out any “carbon pollution” savings.
The article says she plans to stay in Lisbon for a few days before heading to Madrid for the conference. Will she be walking to Madrid, or riding a bike? What’s the carbon footprint of the hotel rooms and all the media following her around? Will she slam the 25,000 in attendance in Madrid, a goodly chunk of whom took fossil fueled trips?
