Former United States president Barack Obama welcomed young Swedish activist Greta Thunberg at his foundation's offices in Washington: “The two of us are a team”
Like two old friends, they greeted each other with a fist bump. "The two of us are a team," former United States president Barack Obama told young activist Greta Thunberg, who arrived in the United States last month after a two-week voyage aboard a sailing boat powered solely by solar energy.
The two met on Monday 16 September at the offices of Obama's foundation and spent a long time talking about the climate strikes and climate action. She said she was satisfied and pleasantly surprised by the enthusiasm that young Americans are putting into making their voices heard.
Greta is 16 years old, but her schedule is almost as full as Obama's. On the horizon is a week of climate action beginning with the strike on Friday 20th, continuing with two summits at the United Nations — the Youth Climate Summit (Saturday 21st) and the Climate Summit (Monday 23rd) — and culminating in the most anticipated event: the third global climate strike (Friday 27th), which follows the first two on 15 March and 24 May.
"I want to tell all young activists to be creative and to never underestimate their power," Thunberg said during her visit to the Obama Foundation. "You are never too small to have an impact on the world."
During his administration (from 2008 to 2016), Obama was one of the most active presidents in the fight against the climate crisis and in protecting the environment. For this reason, Greta's work holds great significance for him: "her activism is one of the reasons Michelle and I started the Obama Foundation," he tweeted that afternoon. "We have faith in a future shaped by the courage and hope of young people like Greta."
We can only wish good luck to Greta for the future — hers and ours — and hope that the meeting with Obama can give young activists further motivation to continue the fight against the climate crisis.