Environmental protection advocate and climate activist Greta Thunberg has pledged the million-euro prize she had just received to groups and projects working to protect our planet just moments after receiving it.
On Tuesday, the Swedish teen activist, who has gone viral for her restless approach to standing up for the environment, was awarded the Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity.
According to Jorge Sampaio, the prize jury chair, Thunberg deserved the award for being “able to mobilize younger generations for the cause of climate change and her tenacious struggle to alter a status quo that persists.”
As Thunberg already confirmed in her Facebook video, however, all of the prize money, which is more than $1 million, “will be donated” through her foundation.
“That is more money than I can begin to imagine, but all the prize money will be donated, through my foundation, to different organizations and projects who are working to help people on the front line, affected by the climate crisis and ecological crisis,” she said in her video.
As the activist went on to explain, a large portion of the prize money, over $100,000, will be dedicated to Stop Ecocide Foundation, an organization that works internationally to recognize ecocide as “an international crime.”
Another $100,000 will be donated to the SOS Amazonia campaign which aims to assist indigenous communities in the Amazon Rainforest in tackling the coronavirus outbreak.
“The consequences of the Amazon people’s death and the destruction of the Amazon rainforest will be global.” – Greta Thunberg
Previously, Greta slammed the world leaders for ‘betraying’ future generations and seeking to take photos with her for their publicity during the 2019 UN climate change summit in New York.
“Presidents, prime ministers, kings, and princesses came and wanted to talk to me. They saw me and suddenly saw the chance that they could take a photo with me for their Instagram account. Then the hashtag #savetheplanet,” Thunberg said.
“It seemed as if they had forgotten for a moment to be ashamed that their generation had let future generations down.”
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Replaced!