Greta Thunberg Declines Environmental Reward Worth $52,000

• Teen climate activist Greta Thunberg has been bestowed the environmental award by the Nordic Council.
• While she accepted the award, she declined the cash reward worth US $52,000.

Ever since her landmark speech at the United Nations Climate Summit, 16-year-old Greta Thunberg has become a household name across the globe. And although people have mixed reactions about her sharp message, there also isn’t any doubt that some organizations are recognizing her brilliance.

Case in point, the young climate activist was recently given the 2019 environmental award by the Nordic Council, an organization composed of Nordic countries. While she did receive the award, she made headlines after declining the prize money worth 350,000 Danish kroner (around US$52,000).

So, thanks but no thanks?

In an Instagram post, Thunberg said that while she considers the award a “huge honor,” we don’t really need more of these awards.

She wrote:

“What we need is for our politicians and the people in power start to listen to the current, best available science.”

She also went on to bash the organization, pointing out that while they boast about their “great reputation” on climate issues, “our actual emissions and our ecological footprints per capita” are still pretty disturbing.

There is still much to be done, according to the teen.

For example, she mentioned that people in Sweden are still living “as if we had about 4 planets, according to WWF and Global Footprint Network.” The same can also be said for almost the whole Nordic region, the young activist continued.

Read Greta Thunberg’s entire post here:

As always, the teen’s straightforwardness attracted a lot of comments from netizens.

One commenter wrote and praised Thunberg for “sticking to (her) principles when offered money” while another suggested that she should’ve accepted the cash and just donated it to an environmental movement.