Environmental activist Greta Thunberg has appeared on Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage this afternoon (June 25) addressing the urgency of the climate change emergency.
Taking to the stage ahead of Haim’s slot on the main stage, Thunberg was introduced by festival organiser Emily Eavis as “the most inspiring speaker of this generation”. With paper notes to hand, she spoke for roughly ten minutes on a range of sustainability issues, critiquing Governmental ‘greenwashing’.
“The biosphere is not just changing, it is destabilising, breaking down… unfortunately, this is not the ‘new normal’. It will get worse until we manage to halt the constant destruction of our life-supporting systems, until we prioritise people and planet over profit and greed.”
I’m excited to announce that today I will be on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury 5.15pm. See you there! @glastonbury pic.twitter.com/es7Uf2HbdY
— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) June 25, 2022
To enormous applause, she emphasised the importance of collectivity: “If a bunch of schoolkids were able to get millions of people on the streets to start changing their lives, just imagine what we could do together if we really tried?”
To close, Thunberg embraced the spirit of her first Glastonbury, leading her very own rockstar chant; “when I say climate, you say justice!”
Before her set, big screens implored Glastonbury goers to reuse, reduce and recycle, as well as showing promotional footage from Greenpeace, Oxfam and CND, all prominent sponsors of the event.
Thunberg’s speech reiterates the themes of both her 2019 collaboration with The 1975, and her forthcoming book, The Climate Book, which will include 100 interviews from trusted scientists, communicators and activists from around the world. It is due to be published by Allen Lane on October 27.
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