The Brief: Greta Thunberg sets sail across the Atlantic

The Brief: Greta Thunberg sets sail across the Atlantic
By Euronews
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The Brief: Greta Thunberg sets sail across the Atlantic. Highlighting the urgency of cutting carbon emissions, the young Swede last month announced she would no longer fly to environmental conferences.

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Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old climate activist who has inspired student protests across the globe, has set off to the United States this week in an environmentally-friendly yacht.

But her two-week voyage across the Atlantic will be no pleasure cruise.

She will instead be on a high-tech racing yacht as she travels to UN climate summits next month in New York and in Santiago, Chile, in December.

"Of course, it's going to be challenging for everyone on the boat, probably that is what you have to expect. 

"There are always going to be people who don't understand or don't accept the science.

“I will just ignore them because, I mean, I'm only acting and communicating on the science, and if they don't like that then, I mean, what have I got to do about that?"

Highlighting the urgency of cutting carbon emissions, the young Swede last month announced she would no longer fly to environmental conferences.

Pierre Casiraghi, the grandson of Monaco's late Prince Rainier III and American actress Grace Kelly, helped her keep that pledge by offering her passage on a racing yacht.

Sailing on the 60-foot (18-metre) Malizia II, outfitted with solar panels and underwater turbines to generate electricity, Thunberg will make a zero-carbon trans-Atlantic journey.

But to call it a 'no-frills' passage would be an understatement.

The sailboat is built for high-speed, offshore racing, with weight kept to a minimum.

The only alterations for the voyage are fitting curtains in front of the bunk and adding mattresses for comfort.

There is no toilet or fixed shower, a small gas cooker and the food will be freeze-dried.

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