New York: "You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words," were the emotional words of Greta Thunberg, the teenage Swedish environmental activist who stormed at the world leaders gathered at the UN Climate Change summit in New York, adding, "We are in the beginning of a mass extinction and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth, how dare you!"
Greta, who has become the global face of the growing youth movement against climate inaction began her speech by telling her audience amusingly, "My message is that we'll be watching you."
Continuing a stinging speech, the activist addressed the pressing issue of the dangerous global heating across the world, saying, "I shouldn't be here. I should have been back at school, on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you?"
"For more than 30 years, the signs have been crystal clear. How dare you continue to look away and come here saying that you are doing enough when the politics and the solution needed are still nowhere in sight," said the 16-year-old, who has taken a year off from her studies to spread awareness about climate change.
She added that in her talks with leaders, she had been told that the youth were being heard and the urgency was understood.
"You say that you hear us and understand the urgency, but no matter how sad and angry I am, I do not want to believe that because if you really understood the situation, and still kept on failing to act, then you would be evil," she said.