Greta Thunberg denounced politicians and the media on Friday for failing her generation, saying the world is on fire but they are ignoring a looming climate cataclysm.
Francesca Lynagh reports.
'The world is on fire,' Greta Thunberg tells UK climate rally
(SOUNDBITE) (English) SWEDISH CLIMATE ACTIVIST, GRETA THUNBERG, SAYING: "We will not be silenced, because we are the change, and change is coming whether you like it or not.
Thank you and let's march." The world is on fire, and politicians and the media are ignoring it.
That was Greta Thunberg's message for young climate change protesters on Friday (February 28).
Several thousand people attended a rally in the southwestern English city of Bristol to see the world's most prominent climate activist speak.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) CLIMATE CHANGE PROTESTER, 15 YEARS OLD, MARTHA HAMPTON, SAYING: "I'm here for both, Greta and climate change, because it's really scary, especially because it's going to affect my generation probably the most.'' 17-year-old Thunberg rose to prominence when she starting skipping school two years ago to protest outside the Swedish parliament building.
She's now the leader of the 'Fridays For Future' movement which has seen school kids across the globe walk out of classrooms to join her cause.
Her impassioned demands for action have upbraided world leaders including U.S. President Donald Trump for ignoring the perils of climate change.
Though Trump has dismissed what he calls the climate "prophets of doom." Thunberg has been in Britain since last weekend.
On Tuesday (February 25) she visited the University of Oxford, where she met Malala Yousafzai, the 22-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner and campaigner for girls' education, who is studying there.