Former President Obama on Monday marked Earth Day by praising a group of young activists who are “stepping up to save the one planet we’ve got.”
“Young people all over the world are leading the way in the fight to protect our planet because they know their future depends on it,” Obama said on Twitter. “This Earth Day, I want to celebrate the courageous, committed young leaders who are stepping up to save the one planet we’ve got.”
{mosads}Obama went on to mention figures such as Greta Thunberg, the Swedish teen who helped spark a youth movement to combat climate change.
“They’re people like 16-year-old @GretaThunberg, whose protests at Swedish parliament sparked a movement,” Obama added in separate tweet. “Inspired by Greta’s action, Fridays for Future brought together more than a million strikers on every continent last month to demand action on climate.”
Obama also recognized other youth climate change activists, including Luisa Neubauer of Germany, Alexandria Villasenor of New York, Haven Coleman of Colorado and Isra Hirsi of Minnesota.
“Luisa, the organizer behind the student movement in Germany, says, ‘It’s our future and we’re not going to stop fighting for it,'” Obama said, before saying in a separate tweet that he hopes more individuals will set the example set by these activists.
“This generation of climate activists is tired of inaction, and they’ve caught the attention of leaders all over the world,” Obama concluded. “So while this challenge is only getting more urgent, they show us the kind of action it’ll take to meet this moment.