Welcome to The Daily Show.
-Thank you so much. -And welcome to New York City.
You came here on a zero-emissions boat,
and part of me thinks that's because you love the climate;
the other part of me wonders
if that's just your Viking heritage.
-(laughter) -Maybe it is.
-It might be? -Yeah.
Tell me why you did that.
Why didn't you fly to New York City
to come and, you know, speak at the U.N. and-and, you know,
inspire people to move forward in the climate change movement?
I did it because I have, since a few years,
stopped flying because of the enormous impact
aviation has on the climate, uh, individually.
And, um, just to make a stand.
And, uh, I am one of the very few people in the world
who can actually do such a trip,
so I thought, why not?
Wow.
(applause, cheering)
Wow. I, uh...
I mean, I know I wouldn't do that as a kid,
-and I wouldn't do it now. Um... -(laughter)
But what-what is inspiring is your determination,
and what's inspiring is that it doesn't just affect
other young people.
It started to effect older generations
in Sweden, in Germany.
People are starting to call it "The Greta Effect,"
where people are taking more trains--
since you started this movement--
they've said they feel ashamed
to fly unnecessarily in Europe.
Your mom is an opera singer and she stopped flying,
which means she couldn't perform the way she used to.
Do you sometimes feel bad that she can't perform,
or are you more excited that she's not part of,
I guess, polluting the planet?
I don't care, honestly, about how she performs.
-She... -(laughter)
She...
(laughter and applause)
She's... She's doing musicals now,
so, I mean, she had to change career,
but it wasn't that big.
(laughter)
And the planet is the most important thing for you.
Yeah. I mean, for all of us, I think it should be.
Why...
(applause)
Why do you think...
Why do you think young people
are so focused on climate change now?
There's a definite, uh, disconnect
between older generations and younger generations
when talking about the climate.
Why do think that is?
I mean, I think it is because we, in a way,
feel like it is more a direct threat.
Others feel like,
"I won't be alive then, anyway, so screw it."
But we... But we, we actually know
that these consequences
will face us during our lifetime,
and it is already happening now.
And it will get worse.
And, uh, so I think that is why
so many young people, especially, care about this.
And, uh, and, of course,
the awareness is not as it needs to be,
it's not as much as it needs to be.
People are still very unaware, it's my experience.
And, uh, so we need to continue,
but you can see that among young people
the concern is bigger.
What do you think people need to learn about climate change?
Many people have heard of the climate warming up.
Some people have a small understanding of what it means,
but what do you think is lacking
in the understanding of this issue?
I think pretty much everything because, I mean,
we know that something is wrong, that the planet is warming
because of increased greenhouse gas emissions,
and that might lead to--
that the ice caps will melt,
and the global temperature will rise,
and there will be more extreme weather events and so on.
But they-they don't understand
how severe this crisis actually is,
and it is because they have not been informed.
Um, I mean, we are right now in the beginning
of the sixth max-- mass extinction,
and, uh, people don't know these things.
Up to 200 species go extinct
every single day,
and, uh, people don't even know
that we have...
For a 67% chance of limiting
the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees,
we had, on January 1, 2018,
420 gigatons of carbon dioxide left to emit
to stay within that target,
and now we're already down to less than 360.
If we continue at the same emission level as now,
we have less than eight and a half years
until that budget is gone
according to the IPCC from the SR15 report.
And that is for a 67% chance.
Wow.
And, um...
Wow. 67% chance,
and we're not even hitting those targets.
What do you think people could do,
and what do you think governments should be doing?
I think people should do... should do everything,
but I think right now,
if I were to choose one thing everyone would do,
it would be to... to inform yourself
and to try to understand the situation
and try to-to push for a political movement
that doesn't exist
because the politics needed to... to fix this
-doesn't exist today. -Mm-hmm.
Um, so, I think what we should do as individuals
is to use the power of democracy that...
to make our voices heard
and to make sure that... that the people in power
actually cannot continue to ignore this.
That's powerful.
-(cheering and applause) -Wow.
Do you...
Do you feel a difference in the conversation
traveling from Sweden
to, um, America?
Is-is there a different feeling around climate change?
Uh, I would say yes.
Um, because, here, it's...
it feels like it is being discussed as something you--
whether you believe in or not believe in.
-(chuckling, applause) -And, uh...
where I come from,
where I come from, it's more like...
it's a fact.
-And... -(cheering and applause)
So then I-I have to ask you this.
You sail from Europe to New York City.
Um... New York City is, um,
quite an assault on the senses,
um, when you come from anywhere else.
What is the biggest thing that has stuck out to you
in New York City?
Uh, I mean, just everything.
All the impressions.
Everything is so much, so big, so loud.
-And, uh... -(laughter)
people talk so loud here as well.
And, uh, because--
when you are on that boat,
when I was on that boat,
there is nothing.
There's just the ocean
and, uh, of course, the sound of the waves crashing.
-But that's it. -Mm-hmm.
No-no smells.
(laughter)
-A-Apart from sweat, but... -(chuckles) Right.
So, I remember the first thing I noticed
when I... when I-- when we came into the harbor
was I woke up and, suddenly,
it smelled something.
And, of course, it-it was pollution.
But it's still something.
And that...
and that was...
It was i...
-undescribable, to... -(laughter)
to-to go from this extreme environment.
-You're disconnected from everything and everyone. -Right.
You only have yourself and the ocean
and the boat, of course,
um, to New York.
That is a-an accurate and brilliant description
of New York.
It is undescribable and it smells.
(laughter, applause)
-Yeah. -I think that is fantastic.
-(cheering and applause) -I'm excited for your journey.
I can't wait to see what else you're gonna do.
-Thank you for making time for us. -Thank you.
The next global climate strike will be on Friday, September 20.
To find or register your local strike,
go to FridaysForFuture.org.
Greta Thunberg, everybody.